


meet you there

by ishta



Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: F/M, a mess really is what it is, also college AU kind of, tinder au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-08
Updated: 2018-07-16
Packaged: 2019-04-20 03:13:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 23,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14251824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ishta/pseuds/ishta
Summary: the "they met on tinder" AU that nobody asked for





	1. a prologue

_“Hey Scott, could you help me get the groceries in?”_

Groaning, Scott Moir slid his phone into his pocket and pulled himself off the couch to race outside, where his brother Danny had just pulled in with a car full of bags. It was freezing outside but he got an appreciative smile from his older brother as he picked up three bags in each hand, dragging them inside, before dropping back onto the couch, phone already in his hand. 

“Meet a girl or something Scotty? You haven’t looked up from that phone all day.”

Scott rolled his eyes and flipped off his brother as he flopped down on the opposite side of the sofa.

“You wish. Just checkin’ fantasy league. You getting us some food or what?”

His brother was notoriously nosy, even though he meant well. And Danny _had_ let him move in to his small London home when Scott had decided to leave Ilderton to live closer to the hockey rink, so he wasn't all bad. Danny smirked and flipped the channel over to a baseball replay, standing up to find something to cook for dinner, giving Scott a light tap on the side of the head.

And it wasn’t even like he was wrong. Scott, who had vowed never to try his hand at online dating, had drunkenly succumbed to his friend’s attempts to download Tinder on his new phone last week. Scott, who was 23 and depressingly single, who had moved from his tiny little community to a relatively big city, who was unemployed and couch-surfing at his brother’s place until he could find himself a stable enough job to find his own apartment somewhere closer to the rink, was now stuck swiping girls right or left in an effort to make his life more exciting.

He wasn’t even that good at hockey, which was the worst part. If he were good, he could probably coach a junior league or something. But no, the team kept him around mostly because his ice skills were second to none. Despite his best efforts, Scott had no puck handing skills whatsoever, but his speed and agility over the ice made him, apparently, worth keeping around. At least while he was still young and fit enough to make up for what he lacked in actual game skill.

Sighing, he put his phone away and tried to focus on the ball game in front of him. The Jays had just scored a double when Danny sat a plate of steak and vegetables in front of him. Perks of living with your brother – no table manners necessary. Thanking him with a quick smile and nod, the brothers sat in comfortable silence, eating and watching the rest of the game when Scott’s phone buzzed.

 

**(1) Tessa Virtue**

Blinking down at his phone, Scott unlocked it to look at the message. He remembered swiping right on this one on a whim; the photos attached to her profile were taken from far away and he couldn’t see her face. Not to make him sound shallow. But she also hadn’t provided any captions or text in her profile, so how was a guy to know?

 

**T: Hi Scott! Maple leafs, huh?**

It was a short message, then, and probably an obvious one. All three of the photos attached to his profile featured Scott in head-to-toe Leafs merch. Can’t blame a guy for just trying to give an accurate depiction of himself.

“Oooooh Tessa? Sounds like a girl to me,” Danny cooed from over Scott’s shoulder. He hadn’t even noticed him get up, but he whipped around to shove him anyway.

“Piss off, Chiddy made me download it anyway.”

“Yeah, _right_. Is she cute at least?" 

Scott could feel the flush going up his neck.

“Dunno. No pictures." 

“And you swiped right anyway? We’re that old and desperate for love, Scotty?”

Danny laughed and Scott flushed even more. Indignantly, he threw his phone down onto the seat beside him, trying his best to ignore his brother and focus on the game.

“Not to mention you’re living on my _couch_. Not the most luxurious place to bring a girl home to,” Danny continued, enjoying this way too much. Scott was obviously determined to ignore him though, so with a final snicker, Danny left him on the couch stomping to his bedroom. 

“Goodnight Scotty, hope you find The One,” he called back, unable to resist one final dig.

“ _SHUT UP,_ ” Scott yelled back, relieved to finally have the room to himself again.

Flicking off the television, Scott settled back down on the couch, picking up his phone. He looked at the girl’s profile photo. It was a picture of a girl, he assumed it was her,  _Tessa_ , in the middle of a figure skating program. It had been taken from a distance by someone in the audience, so he couldn’t really tell what she looked like. But he _could_ make out the length of her legs, the delicacy of her posture and the way her long dark hair whipped through the air as she glided across the ice. Rolling his eyes at himself, and trying to forget everything Danny had scoffed at, he figured it couldn’t hurt to respond.

 

            **S: Tessa! So, figure skating, huh?**

* * *

 

Tessa groaned, pushing her glasses back up her nose. She had an exam in four days, and she still had five whole chapters of revision to go over. Not to mention she had come straight to the library from the gym, which now felt like the worst idea she’d ever had. She was exhausted, her eyes barely opened enough to read over what she’d highlighted.

Just as she was trying to talk herself out of making yet another coffee to help her power through the night, her phone flashed with a message from her roommate, Kaitlyn.

 

**_Come home, hon, you’re too tired. We can have a quick drink and then go to bed and there’s no class tomorrow we can sleep in!!!!!!!_ **

 

Tessa sighed. She knew she had a tendency to go overboard with the studying. Her mom worried, her sister worried, and now Kaitlyn. Nodding to herself, Tessa shut the books and picked up the phone.

 

**_On my way back now, better have the wine poured and ready to go when I’m there_ **

 

It was a short walk back to the apartment she and Kaitlyn had shared for almost two years. Tessa loved living on campus, loved being in the middle of everything. What she _didn’t_ love about it was the general aura of anxiety that shrouded the UWO campus as exams approached. She really had to check herself that she didn’t fall too hard into the trap of over-studying and under-eating that she had found herself in during her first two years of studying. Kaitlyn was amazing, but Tessa was very conscious of her bad habits, born out of a childhood career focused so heavily on perfection.

Tessa hadn’t skated competitively for years, but the impact the junior circuit had on her was enormous. A need for perfection and control had been drilled into her since she was seven, and habits like that were very difficult to undo. But she was trying, as was Kaitlyn, who had been her training partner for so many years. They complimented each other, Tessa thought, and she was so grateful to have a friend who understood her competitive background.

Arriving at her front door, Tessa dug out her key and let herself into her apartment, dropping her books onto the kitchen counter with a tired sigh.

Kaitlyn, true to her word, had a (very large) glass of red wine poured on the counter ready for her. Picking it up graciously, she walked over to where she knew Kaitlyn would be perched on the couch watching the television in the living area.

“Long day?”

“Nah. Had worse,” Tessa said, although her headache begged to differ. Kaitlyn said nothing though, just hummed and took a long sip of her own wine. They sat in companionable silence and watched as the late night news finished, only for a baseball replay to start.

“Met any guys lately?”

Tessa whipped her head over to Kaitlyn, who innocently picked up her wine as if she hadn’t so abruptly changed the subject.

“No? That can wait til after I pass Macro thanks,” Tessa said.

“Hmmm… okay. But just so you know, I’ve signed you up for Tinder. And people are _interested_ ,” Kaitlyn replied with a small smirk on her face.

“ _WHAT?_ Kait… no!, just… wow, no,” Tessa exclaimed, trying to grab Kaitlyn’s phone out of her hand to see just how bad the damage was. 

Kaitlyn, who at this point was giggling out of control, let Tessa take the phone without any resistance. She pointed at the app, which brought up a picture of Tessa skating last year. Tessa rolled her eyes; it was a dreadful photo to begin with, you couldn’t make out any details of her at all.

“People are interested just by this blurry photo? _Wow_ Kait, I’m really gonna find a catch on here, for sure,” drawled Tessa, scrolling through the matches. She noticed Kaitlyn had taken the liberty to already initiate conversations with most of them, much to her appal.

“Just go through them Tess, live a little. You’re 21, you’re allowed to have fun,” Kaitlyn said, her attention already back on the television (and her glass of wine).

Tessa scoffed and murmured something that sounded like _I have fun_ , but she knew Kaitlyn wasn’t wrong. She hadn’t seen a guy in over a year, something about being focused on her studies or something like that. Maybe she _did_ deserve to have some fun. She wasn’t sure that _Tinder_ was exactly the way to do it, but maybe it was a start. Something different.

Continuing through the matches, most of which were pictures of huge guys, shirtless, in front of a mirror, her phone buzzed with a message.

 

**S: Tessa! So, figure skating, huh?**

 

 _Scott Moir_. Tessa’s eyes narrowed, the name sounded familiar, but she couldn’t quite place it. Kaitlyn had already taken the liberty to message Scott, a short message about the Maple Leafs or something. She scrolled through his photos, which could not be more different from the matches she had started scrolling through already. They were mostly of him and people who she imagined were his family. In every photo, he wore a different t-shirt with Maple Leafs insignia. His easy-going smile and floppy hair pulled at Tessa, despite her indifference to the app. 

Below his name was a short bio. A _very_ short bio.

 

_I’m Scott and I like hockey. Currently in London, but Ilderton proud._

Cute, Tessa thought, but not very revealing. Biting her lip, she looked over at Kaitlyn, who was smirking, obviously very pleased with herself. Tessa thought about just deleting the app and giving Kait her phone back, but there was something about this _Scott_ that prevented her from doing that.

Instead, she took a deep breath and swallowed her pride.

 

“So… how should I respond to this?”

 

 

 

 


	2. chapter one

It really didn’t take long for Scott to fall into an easy rhythm of talking to Tessa. It surprised him, actually, that he could banter so readily with a complete stranger. Well, maybe she wasn’t a stranger anymore?

Naturally, after three weeks, he didn’t really know much about her. He _did_ know she was studying Psychology full time, and that her graduation date was looming. He knew she loved Audrey Hepburn movies and watching Suits reruns before going to sleep. He knew she would only eat chocolate if it was Lindt. He knew they were set up by her best friend, Kaitlyn. He knew she was smart, and funny, and thoughtful.

(Okay, maybe he _did_ know a bit about her.)

But there was plenty he didn’t know (but wanted to, whether or not he would admit it to himself). He didn’t know where she studied (he assumed in London). He didn’t even know where she lived, really, other than locally enough to be inside his Tinder catchment (which, admittedly, he’d set to be fairly vast). He didn’t know where she was from (he prayed she was Canadian).

He didn’t know what she looked like (but, _God_ , did he want to).

 

But Scott had bigger concerns. He hadn’t had any ice time in three weeks, and was starting to get the impression that this may continue for the rest of the season.

His efforts to ask his coach what was up had been brushed aside: _we’ll see next time, Scott_. Scott had scoffed, but, realistically, what more could he do? He never missed a training, he would go to every conditioning session he could with the rest of the team. His teammates were great sports, never making him feel any less for his lack of game time, but it ate away at him. No matter how much he trained, practised, his hockey skills had plateaued.

And, it was so _humiliating_. He had moved to London from Ilderton to keep playing hockey, to be more competitive, to be at the top of his game. And whether he played or not, his brothers never missed a game. Scott _loved_ them for that, but with every passing week Scott got overlooked, he had to face the pitying handshakes from his two brothers. They must have noticed how demoralising it was for him, as they started taking in turns helping him practise outside of training times.

Scott Moir was nothing if not driven.

And, through it all, Scott complained to Tessa. About the unfairness of it all. And, with perfect grammar, she seemed to understand, or at least be sympathetic about it.

Sometime after the fourth week in a row of being left off the ice, he found himself at home alone after a particularly hard training session. Danny had been working late shifts lately. Scott was lying on the couch, holding his phone over his head and messaging his new companion.

 

**S: Benched all game _again_ … **

**T: Not again! Surely there is something your coach can tell you to point you in the right direction? You’re still training with the team and everything, right?**

**S: every day**

**S: dunno what more I can do, T**

**T: Chin up, Scott! You’re working so hard, something has to go right eventually!**

God, she was just so full of optimism.

Scott was just about to answer something along the lines of _yeah,_ bullshit, when he heard a truck pull up outside the house. Tilting his head up, he saw his brother approaching the front door.

**S: yeah, I guess. charlies here I gotta go**

“Heya Scotty! How _is_ the lovely Tessa?” he said, in lieu of a proper greeting, letting himself into Danny’s house and shrugging off his coat.

Scott was going to _kill_ Danny. He couldn’t wait to share his findings about Scott’s misadventures on Tinder with their other brother Charlie, and now they couldn’t have a straight conversation without poor Tessa being namedropped into it.

“Fuck off Charlie, not in the mood.”

Charlie nodded, knowing Scott’s tendencies for a short temper, especially given his recent exclusion from the hockey ice. He walked over to the arm of the couch Scott was lying on and leaned over it, looking at his younger brother.

Scott’s hair had grown long, too long. He looked like he hadn’t had a proper night’s sleep in _months_ (which he hadn’t).

“Alright baby brother, get up.”

“I’m good here, thanks.”

“Nope. We’re going to Mom’s for dinner. Pack a bag, you’ll be staying there tonight.”

Scott blinked. Nobody had said anything about a family dinner.

“Why would I be staying at –“

“We’re worried, Scott,” Charlie interrupted. “You’re not sleeping. You’re spending all day practising. It’s killing you. Look at you, you haven’t been this skinny since your skating days.”

Scott knew Charlie was right. But Scott was also the most stubborn person in the world.

“I’m _fine_ Charlie. Just need a bit of sleep and –“

“Get in the fucking truck, Scott. Jesus.”

Scott groaned, but he got up and shoved some stuff in a backpack before following Charlie back out to the truck.

 

* * *

  

The drive to Ilderton was short, but a drive that Scott didn’t do very often these days. Charlie stayed quiet, and the classic rock station played softly between them, before Scott decided to break the silence.

“Thank you. For the training and stuff. I really needed it and I guess I’m really lucky that you wanted to help me.”

Charlie nodded once, his eyes not leaving the road.

“I just don’t know what I’m gonna do about not playing hockey. Like what else can I do. I don’t have a diploma or anything,” Scott was rambling now, nervous that his normally chatty brother wasn’t responding. And after that, silence fell over the truck for a few minutes before Charlie finally spoke.

“You’re gonna be fine, Scotty. Absolutely fine.”

 

* * *

 

Danny was already at the Moir family home when they arrived. Scott thought it was weird, and didn’t hold back saying so.

“What’re you doing here? Made Charlie come and pick me up? I could’ve driven myself you know?”

Danny looked over with a small smirk on his face, “No guarantee you’d come, baby brother.”

“No, there wasn’t.”

Scott turned towards the new voice, and immediately felt guilty. For all his recent bonding with his two brothers, he’d been ignoring calls from his parents. Alma Moir looked up at him with a small smile on her face, her arms outstretched.

Scott walked immediately to her, enveloping her in a hug like he hadn’t done in _months._

“Just because you think you’re old now, doesn’t mean you can’t come back to visit your old Mom.”

“No, I know, I know. Sorry Mom, I’ve just been so _busy_ ,” Scott started, but fell silent when he saw the look on her face. She looked almost… sheepish?

“It’s okay, it’s okay, Scotty. Lets just… we’ll wait for yout Dad to get home and have some dinner then? We can have a proper talk then?”

The proper talk over dinner didn’t quite happen. The Moirs were usually a rowdy bunch. You could usually hardly get a word in, over the sound of three boys trying to speak over each other. But this dinner was uncharacteristically quiet. In fact, Scott could hardly even remember the last time they’d all sat around and had dinner like this. It was nice, he thought, but _God_ someone better come up with something to say soon.

“So Scott’s in love with a girl he met online.”

Anything but _that_. Fucking Danny.

Alma’s eyes lit up.

“ _Scotty -_ ,” she started to say in wonder.

“It’s nothing, she’s nothing,” Scott said immediately, automatically. He felt slightly guilty; he and Tessa had texted at least once a day for _weeks_ , but what else could he say? He didn’t know her; she was nothing worth talking about. Especially not over a family dinner.

Danny looked ready to argue when Charlie, thank _fuck_ , intervened.

“Danny got thrown out of a sports bar for public indecency.”

And just like that, the usual volume of the Moir family dinner was restored.

 

* * *

 

 

After dinner, Scott and Alma retired to the living room with a beer each, while the two older boys and their father, Joe, finished the dishes.  

“How’s hockey going, Scotty,” Alma said after a few moments of quiet.

“It’s great, Mom, I’m –“

“Don’t lie to me, honey.”

Scott sighed, placing his beer on the coffee table in front of the armchair.

“They told you.”

Alma nodded, then looked contemplative. “But they didn’t have to,” she said finally, “I could tell you weren’t happy.”

To his absolute horror, Scott’s eyes filled with tears. Shaking his head angrily, he looked away from his mother to calm himself down, but to no avail. He felt his mother’s hand rest on his upper back, and turned his head back to look at her. She had a sad smile on her face, and Scott was struck with how much he’d _missed_ her since moving to London.

“Honey. Come home. Take a break and figure out what you want to do, but for God’s sakes get yourself off that shitty couch of your brother’s, and find yourself a bed to sleep in.”

 

* * *

 

Later that night, Scott found himself snuggled into his childhood bed contemplating what his Mom had said. She’d offered him a job at the ice rink she coached at, teaching kid skaters. Like _kid_ skaters. The under 5’s. And he hadn’t said no.

He really didn’t want to give up hockey, but he could no longer deny that maybe it just wasn’t his path. As much as he _loved_ hockey, it will never be his career. Why waste his time? Or at least, as his mother had said, he should take a break to reconsider.

His mind was going a million miles an hour, bouncing with uncertainty and fear about what to do. Can he withdraw halfway through the season? It’s not like the team is losing a valuable player…

 

Suddenly his phone buzzed, and Scott lifted his head to see what it said.

 

**(1) Tessa Virtue**

Sighing, he picked it up to see his newest Tinder message.

 

**T: Hey Scott, didn’t hear from you after this afternoon… Hope everything is okay!**

He smiled despite himself. She was _thoughtful_. And while Danny liked to remind him that he had no real clue that she wasn’t some middle-aged creep looking for a younger man to chat online with (Danny needs to _stop_ ), he was sure that she couldn’t possibly be.

 

**S: ive been kidnapped by my brother and held hostage at my moms but all good, how was ur day?**

**T: Oh that sounds… interesting? I spent all day studying :( But Kaitlyn has been baking, so that’s always a fun day!**

**S: oh good yeah nothing beats home-baked**

He hated himself as soon as he pressed send. _Nothing beats home-baked?_ _Really Scott?_ But he couldn’t really think of how to carry that conversation. So he just went for it.

**S: anyway, mom wants me to quit**

**T: Quit hockey? And how do you feel about that?**

Right, he almost forgot she was studying _psychology_.

 

**S: i dunno…maybe its not the worst idea in the world? obviously not getting any better at it anyway**

There was a few minutes’ pause before she replied. Scott thought she may have fallen asleep when his phone buzzed again.

 

**T: Don’t sell yourself short, you sound like you’ve worked very hard. But if hockey is taking its toll, maybe take a step back and see how it goes. You’re not too old to find something new to fall in love with, Scott!**

Thoughtful and so _optimistic_. Everything she wrote sounded like it came straight from an Audrey Hepburn film script. So girly and romantic and _ridiculous_. It made him angry, that she couldn’t give him real, straight advice.  Not really knowing how to respond to her, he threw his phone haphazardly onto the table beside his bed, trying to ignore the buzzing.

 

**(1) Tessa Virtue**

**(2)** **Tessa Virtue**

**(3) Tessa Virtue**

After the third, he leaned over and picked it up, mainly out of curiosity.

 

**T: Scott?**

**T: Are you asleep?**

**T: I’m sorry if I crossed a line. I know you love hockey more than anything. I just think you should explore other options while you’re still young!**

_Again_ with the fucking Disney princess outlook. Scott sighed, wondering how he could even be angry with a tiny blurry picture at the top of his screen. It truly was ridiculous; this weird extended conversation he had found himself in with a virtually-anonymous stranger.

 

  **S: i’m fine, just thinking. goodnight T, speak tomoz?**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah so i punched this one out super quick (i already had it kind of half written anyway) but its a bit of a mess. bear with me while i sort my life out 
> 
> pls comment also i love comments thrive on comments


	3. chapter two

**S: I’m fine, just thinking. goodnight T, speak tomoz?**

 

She sighed. She’d definitely come on a little strong, had obviously upset him.

 

**T: Of course! Goodnight Scott :)**

Turning off her phone, she slid it back into her handbag to focus on the books spread in front of her. It was late, and she’d been in the library since dinner. She knew that Kaitlyn would start calling her to find her any second now. But Tessa didn’t want to be found. She needed to _study_.

Finals were quickly approaching, and, in her second last semester, Tessa needed to maintain those grades if she wanted to get into any decent grad programs. Kaitlyn had been peskier than usual, bringing her food and tea when she was studying late, but Tessa couldn’t handle any more interruptions tonight. Hence, her relocation to the campus library, which thankfully opened 24/7 in the lead up to finals.

She tried to block out her conversation with Scott, which had taken a turn she really wasn’t expecting. She hated social media, really. She'd had to download Tinder to her own phone after Kaitlyn had set it all up for her, and the little flame icon alone set her on edge every time she opened the home screen of her phone.

It sounded like he was pissed, and maybe… should he be? She couldn’t convey _tone_  in an online message.

Who was she to tell him to step back from hockey? But he wouldn’t have told her what his mom had said if he wasn’t looking for advice?

Shaking her head, she forced herself to focus on the content in front of her, copying out definitions onto flash cards. She lasted about another hour before she felt her eyes beginning to drift shut, so she shoved her books into her back and stood up to stretch. Flicking her phone back on, she immediately felt guilty when she saw three missed calls from Kait. But then the delayed notification signs popped up.

 

**(1) Scott Moir**

She sighed in relief. She really wasn’t expecting to hear from him again until the morning.

 

**S: no line crossed, thanks for the advice**

The walk back to her apartment was uneventful. Kaitlyn had texted her to let her know the front door was open, but she’d gone to bed. Letting herself in, Tessa looked absently at the microwave that displayed the time.

 

**02:48**

 

She huffed. _I need to really start wearing a watch_ , she thought to herself, dragging herself to bed in what had become yet another late night.

 

* * *

 

The next morning, Tessa reluctantly woke up to the welcome smell of coffee wafting through the small apartment. Kaitlyn must have left it on before leaving for her morning lecture; after years of early mornings, she knew how much her roommate _hated_ mornings, especially after a late night study session.

Tessa threw back the covers and groaned. She poured herself a coffee and drank it as quickly as she could before changing into her running gear. The weather was getting _cold_ , especially in the mornings, so she ran her shorter route, trying to push back any thoughts of exams and essays. Not to too much success, however, but at least she was trying.

She threw herself into the shower when she got back, making sure she turned the coffee back on to be ready for when she was out. Towel drying her hair as quickly as she could, she pulled her laptop and textbooks out of the bag she’d dropped by the door last night and set herself up on the dining table with a fresh cup of coffee.

She must’ve lost track of time again, because not too long later Kaitlyn let herself back into her apartment. She was looking tired, too, Tessa noticed. She often forgot in her own stress that Kaitlyn was taking a full course load as well.

“There’s fresh coffee.”

“What, this? It’s cold, Tess.”

Tessa’s eyes flashed over to the coffee pot and she realised that it had been sitting here for over an hour.

“Oh, sorry. Must’ve lost track of time,” Tess said, sheepishly, before returning to her books.

Kaitlyn let out a small laugh, pouring out the coffee to make another fresh pot. They probably drank too much coffee in the Virtue/Weaver household.

Putting another mug in front of Tessa, Kaitlyn settled down across from her at the table with her own mug and a pile of books. The two girls studied in silence for a while, before Kaitlyn launched herself up from the dining chair, announcing she was going to make lunch. Tessa nodded distractedly, returning to her work.

“How’s our Scotty doing?”

Tessa glanced up at Kaitlyn, who wasn’t looking at her, but was looking down at the sandwiches she was making with a smirk.

“Don’t know. Haven’t heard from him today,” Tessa said, trying to sound unaffected by this fact.

“And that’s an issue because?”

“Because I think I pissed him off last night and now he’ll probably never talk to me again.”

Kaitlyn laughed, before realising that Tessa was serious.

“Oh honey, what did you do?”

“I don’t even know? I’m sick of this, really. It’s obviously not anything, why am I still bothering with it?”

But both Tessa and Kaitlyn knew _why_ she was still bothering with it. Tessa was lonely. Outside of Kaitlyn, and her sister Jordan, she really didn’t have many friends. She needed someone else to talk to, just to feel connected with something other than her ever-burdening pile of textbooks.

And she _liked_ talking to Scott. There was something comforting about being able to tune out of being a student, to just have a quick, meaningless conversation about whatever movie was coming out next week, or whether or not the Jays were having a good season (they _were_ ). He was funny, he was sweet. Tessa was struck by how much she liked Scott. It was weird, but it had been so nice the last few weeks to have someone to just randomly message any thought that came into her head.

Kaitlyn didn’t answer her, though, just sat a salad sandwich in front of her with a small smile.

 

* * *

 

It wasn’t until much later, after dinner that night, that her phone buzzed.

  

**(1) Scott Moir**

She put down the book she’d been reading to unlock her phone.

 

**S: officially a free man, no more hockey for scotty**

She took a sharp breath before responding. Kaitlyn, sitting on the armchair across the room looked over at her.

“Scott?”

“Yep.”

Kaitlyn smirked.

 

**T: And you’re okay about that?**

The reply came in almost instantly.

 

**S: yep.**

**S: currently looking for something to fall in love with again if u have any suggestions?**

Tessa blinked. Then she re-read the message. Some _thing_ to fall in love with.

 

**T: I’m not sure, Scott… But I’d definitely look at getting a job?**

**S: yeah mom said I can work at her business until I find something better. first day tomorrow!**

Tessa smiled. She remembered him saying something about wanting to find a job and help repay his brother for letting him crash with him for so long.

 

**T: That’s great! Let me know how it goes :)**

**S: will do. dont study too hard, t!**

“Say something cute did he?”

Kaitlyn’s voice snapped Tessa back into reality. She realised she’d been smiling down at her phone too long.

“He got a job!”

“Ugh, _good_. Lover boy was getting a little too sad with his unemployment and homelessness,” Kaitlyn responded. Tessa rolled her eyes, putting away her phone and picking up the novel she’d neglected when her phone had buzzed.

“So when are you going to meet him?”

Tessa nearly gave herself whiplash turning to Kaitlyn, who didn’t even have the grace to look sheepish. She looked dead serious.

“Meet him?”

“Well, yeah. That’s what you do on Tinder, Tessa,” Kaitlyn said this as if she were talking to a small child.

But Tessa shook her head.

“Nope, I mean I like talking to him but meeting him is dange-“

“You’ve been glued to your phone for a month, Tess. You get so excited and, God, _smiley_ , whenever that phone buzzes with his name on it.”

Kaitlyn was right. Tessa loved having someone to talk to who didn’t treat her like she was ticking time-bomb of stress. Who didn’t probe too much about why she studies so often, or so late. Who didn’t really question why she was always awake to respond instantly to the texts he sent in the early hours of the morning. But, still. He was a _Tinder match._ And Tessa told Kaitlyn as such.

“But maybe its worth the risk, Tess.”

Tessa blinked, not expecting that. Maybe it was. Still, for the sake of appearances she scoffed anyway, and stood up to take herself to bed.

“Good _night_ Kait. I’m getting up early for a run if you wanted to come,” Tessa said, essentially putting an end to the conversation.

But Kaitlyn’s words did their job. Three hours later and Tessa was still wide awake in bed thinking about it. About _meeting Scott_. He could be a murderer. A sex trafficker.

But he also could be _Scott Moir_ : die-hard Leafs fan, loving brother, happy-go-lucky family guy. Tessa’s _friend._

Groaning (quietly, so as not to wake Kaitlyn), Tessa rolled over and picked up her phone.

 

**T: Have we reached the point where we can text? Like proper texting, not Tinder messaging? It just feels weird and I honestly would love to delete this stupid app from my phone. If yes, I’ll give you my number.**

Biting her lip, Tessa pressed send and settled back into bed, trying not to think about his response.

 

 **(1)** **Scott Moir**

_Screw sleep_.

 

**S: guess we have, T. my number is…**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is a little on the shorter side but we should be getting into the grit of it soon, i'm thinking.


	4. chapter three

He just gave her his number. His personal mobile number. It was 1 in the morning, and he just gave a stranger his _personal mobile number_.

 _Jesus Christ,_ Danny’s going to have a field day.

But she was right. There was something slightly sleazy about using _Tinder messenger_ as a texting service. So it made perfect sense that he would give her his number. Didn’t it?

Almost instantly his phone lit up with a text message from an unknown number.

 

**_Hi Scott! Guess who… ;)_ **

****

God, she better not be an axe-murdering old man.

 

* * *

 

Life in Ilderton was fine. He helped out at reception at his Mom’s rink during the day, and taught kids skating in the evening.

Alma loved having Scott around. Her little baby boy was back home and she didn’t have to worry about him under-eating and overworking. He was well-fed and adequately worked (Alma wasn’t about to let him hang around for free), was sleeping in a real bed and not a crappy sofa, and didn’t carry the constant stress of hockey. Joe loved having someone around to yell at the TV screen with whenever the hockey refs were blatantly favouring the other team. He appreciated having someone to make sure there were enough beers in the fridge for after dinner, and he loved having a son around to pawn off any house maintenance on to.  So, yeah, his parents loved having him around.

And for the most part, Scott didn’t mind hanging around Ilderton.

But _God_ he missed hockey. He’d gone to watch his old team play a couple of times, but couldn’t bring himself to go down to the locker rooms to see them after the games. He’d texted a couple of the guys he was closer with on the team to stay in contact, but didn’t have it in him yet to invite them out for a drink.

But otherwise, yeah, generally everything in Ilderton was _fine_.

Adjusting from his long training days for hockey, Scott filled in his days pretty well. He put in long days at the rink, getting up to start work at 6:30am, and not finishing his coaching til around 7pm that evening. On the weekends, he’d head to London to visit Charlie or Danny, or bum around in Ilderton with some older mates he’d fallen out of touch with. He played scratch match hockey with some other guys who worked at the rink, and didn’t have to feel guilty about the beers they’d get after the game.

Ilderton life was easy.

And there was the added bonus that he hadn’t expected to enjoy teaching so much. There was something adorable about the four year olds bumbling and falling around the ice that he just enjoyed so much. Picking up the kids, seeing their first circle of the ice without falling, it made him feel like he wasn’t just wasting his life away. It gave him the sense of purpose that he just wasn’t getting in London. 

But something was missing. He didn’t know what, but _something_ was missing.

Maybe it was the fact he was 24 years old, and moving back in with his parents.

Danny had been bringing the rest of his stuff gradually from London. It wasn’t like Scott had a huge amount of stuff there to begin with, but with every box he brought back into Scott’s new room, Scott felt his life in London being erased. Like he’d never even left.

What did he have to show for it?

If Tessa were here, she’d say some fairy-tale crap like _it’s the experience that counts_. Some bullshit like that.

Scott tried to be optimistic about it. He had a new job, one he didn’t hate, maybe kind of liked. Sure, he’d basically spent his entire childhood within the walls of the run-down rink, but there was something special, something sentimental, about the smell of the Ilderton ice. As he spun four-year-olds around in tutus and too-long leg warmers, he remembered his own childhood skating career.

He was _good_. He raced through junior classes, finding himself in classes with boys much older than he. When it became obvious that he was outgrowing the level of teaching that the rink could provide, they tried to pair him off with other girl dancers. However, no girls his age could match his speed, his skill. And the older girls were too tall for Scott (who didn’t really have a proper growth spurt until he was at least 15).

So what did he do? He quit. Sixteen-year-old Scott Moir, the pride and joy of Ilderton figure skating, quit skating, and decided hockey was the sport for him. And don’t we all know how _that_ turned out.

 _Fucking idiot_.

It was something he hadn’t really thought about for a while, until he’d come back to work at the rink. He didn’t even really think he’d enjoyed figure skating that much; he hated the early mornings, and after school it always clashed with hockey training. His mom made him wear these hideous costumes and traipse around the ice with obviously inferior girl skaters. But being back, seeing the young skaters with so much _potential_ , made Scott miss it.

He missed the way his body glided across the ice, the overwhelming sense of relief after a flawless skate. The way his body ached in the evenings after a hard day training, only to have to get up and go again before the sun rose the next morning. He was _so_ good. And Scott missed being good at something. 

One night, after he’d dismissed his last class of five-year-olds for the day, Scott decided to just do it. Nobody was here, nobody would know.

He put his skates back on, lacing them tighter than he had them for his classes, and pulled out his phone. Pressing play on whatever song came next on shuffle (some movie cover of _I Want to Hold Your Hand_ , by the Beatles) and began to circle the rink. He hadn’t really skated with a toe-pick for _years_ , but it was as if he’d never stopped. He began to improvise step sequences and twizzles, and soon he found himself so lost in the music that he hardly recognised himself. As he twirled and soared across the ice, he was struck with the realisation that he fucked up. He had _fucked up_.

Why had he ever quit skating? This was what he should be doing. Right now, he should be the best goddamn figure skater to ever come out of Canada. But he’d got frustrated and quit. He’d quit. He’d given up his best chance to _be_ something.

With that thought, he abruptly caught his pick on the ice and crash-landed onto his stomach with a grunt.

Scott lay there for what seemed like hours (but what was surely mere minutes) trying to catch his breath, imagining a life where he, with some faceless but flawless partner, toured the world, won medals, won _Olympic medals_ , for their figure skating success. He could feel it in his bones. That was who he was meant to be.

 

But he’d chosen a different direction, a different life. And now he’s here, lying on his stomach at Ilderton skate rink.

 

* * *

 

It was nearing 11pm when he finally made it home. Both his parents had already gone to bed, so Scott quietly made his way into the shower before collapsing into bed. His stomach _hurt_ from when he had fallen, and he was exhausted from his long day at work and hours on the ice.

Holding up his phone, he was struck with the realisation that he hadn’t spoken to Tessa today. Since trading numbers, their conversation had fallen into an easy quasi-friendship. It appeared like he knew everything about her, despite knowing nothing. He knew exactly when she was craving Lindt chocolate, but he had no idea what she wanted to do once she graduated. He knew she preferred baseball to hockey, that she couldn’t cook to save her life, that she was rarely in bed before 2am, but didn’t know her relationship status.

(He’d initially assumed single, but since she deleted Tinder from her phone he thought maybe she had met someone?)

He whipped his phone out to send her a quick text before bed.

 

**_didn’t hear from ya today … hope that means your exam went well and ur out partying?_ **

****

The reply came instantly.

 

**_I wish! Exam went alright I think, but I have another one on Thursday so had to jump straight into studying for that one :(_ **

****

He smiled.

 

**_well I hope ur taking it easy tonight at least… early nite for you?_ **

 

There was a short pause before her reply.

 

**_I’m in the library… don’t tell Kaitlyn she thinks I took myself out to the movies_ **

 

He bit his lip before replying.

 

**_maybe go home tess… you didn’t sleep much before this exam. give yourself the rest of the night off?_ **

****

God, listen to him. When did he start to care about Tessa’s sleeping habits? How had she managed to weasel her way in to his everyday life, to the point where he’d notice that they hadn’t spoken that day?

 

**_Yeah, maybe you’re right… But if I fail the next one, it’s all on you, Moir_ **

****

**_ill cop that…ur too smart to fail anyway_ **

****

And even after his fall, after his revelation, Scott went to sleep easily.

 

* * *

  

The next morning, Scott tried to awkwardly tell his parents he’d gone to the bar after work – “on a _Tuesday night,_ Scotty? Really?” – because he hardly wanted his mom to know about his revelation about skating. She’d been the one to push him, been the most disappointed when he’d decided to quit. He couldn’t tell her she was right; he wasn’t ready for that yet.

As he walking into the rink for his early morning receptionist hours, he saw a familiar tall figure gliding across the ice. Frowning, Scott realised that someone must have booked a 6am session without letting him know.

“Hey, Poje,” Scott called from the boards.

Andrew Poje turned at the sound of his name and broke out into a massive grin when he saw who was there.

“Scott Moir,” he greeted, skating up to the boards to hold out his hand, “Long time, no see. How’s London?”

Scott and Andrew had trained a few years together before Scott threw in the towel. They’d kept in contact mainly because they both had a mutual love for hockey, and were basically the best two guys in their age group. But they hadn’t seen each other in a few years. Scott didn’t even realise he still skated at Ilderton; he’d heard that Andrew moved back to Kitchener-Waterloo shortly after Scott had quit.

Thing was, Andrew had what Scott never did: a partner, a  _good_ partner. They’d dominated the junior circuit, but Scott barely knew what he was doing now.

“Back from London actually. Hanging out in Ilderton ‘til I can figure it out,” Scott said, trying his best not to show his discomfort in explaining his moving back.

“Oh yeah, definitely. I’m in between jobs at the moment too, really. We just booked a couple of hours this morning. Ilderton’s the only place that’s free in the mornings these days.”

“We?”

“Oh I’m here with Kaitlyn…We don’t compete much anymore but its nice to just get on the ice again after a while, you know?”

Scott _did_ know.

“And who might Kaitlyn be?”

“Oh she’s just getting changed, she’ll be out in a sec. We got partnered basically as soon as you got into hockey,” Andrew explained, looking over in the general direction of the changing rooms, “Oh, here she is now.”

A blonde head of hair walked out of the change-room purposefully, not looking in their direction as she struggled with the zip on her gym bag. Kaitlyn was pretty, Scott thought, and looked like she’d be a good height match for Andrew, which was always a struggle for the 6’2” giant.

She gracefully wandered over to where Andrew and Scott were standing, on either side of the ice board, head down at her phone before looking up to smile at Scott. Only, she didn’t really smile.

Her eyes blew wide as she looked at him, and she said nothing.

“Kait, this is Scott. Scott Moir, I think he works here…?” Andrew said, trailing off to look over at Scott in confirmation.

When Scott nodded, Andrew continued, “Yep, works here. We used to train together back when we were kids.”

Kaitlyn still hadn’t said anything, in a silence that was becoming uncomfortable. Scott, a master of diffusing uncomfortable social situations, just plastered a grin on his face and stuck out his hand.

“Nice to meet you Kaitlyn. Got yourself a good one here,” he said, using his other hand to slap Andrew playfully in the chest.

A few seconds passed before she plastered a dazzling grin on her face, grabbing Scott’s hand with her own gloved hand and shaking it purposefully.

“Great to meet you, Scott Moir.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I do actually have the next chapter already written, but I may wait a day or two to post it depending on how bored I get... xxx


	5. chapter four

A very stressed out, overtired, and sleepy Tessa Virtue was lying on the couch going over her notes for her last final of her second semester of university, when a very overexcited Kaitlyn Weaver nearly knocked the door down in her hurry to get inside after her early morning skating session.

“Jesus Kait, you nearly gave me a _heart attack –_ “

“I met him,” Kaitlyn interrupted, a huge shit-eating grin stretching across her pretty face.

“What? Met who,” Tessa said, her sleep-deprived brain barely following anything before midday these days.

“Scott. Our Scott. _Your_ Scott. Scott Moir.”

Well that woke Tessa right up.

“What? Where? _How?”_ She stood up and started pacing. “You better start talking _right now_ Kaitlyn Weaver or I swear to _God –“_

“He works at Ilderton ice rink.”

“What? He does – _oh_ ,” Tessa trailed off. “Of course he does. I never put two and two together.”

Of course she’d known he was so ‘Ilderton proud’ that he would move home after quitting hockey. They’d talked about that. She also knew he was working in an ice rink, in his _mother’s_ ice rink, so of course.

What she didn’t know was why Kaitlyn was in Ilderton for a morning skate, but _of fucking course_ he works at Ilderton ice rink. Tessa could punch herself for not realising it before. She knew that rink very well.

And that explained why Scott’s name had been so familiar to her initially. Her first coach, Carol Moir, was always complaining about her boisterous nephews. They’d speed skate around in circles while she was trying to teach her young girls twirls, they’d interrupt technique correction sessions by taking the piss out of the girls in their tutus. But, despite all that, they were _magnificent_ skaters. In fact, her sister and one of the Moir boys were paired up for ice dance. That lasted about a week before they just about took each other’s head off.

It’d been around then that she’d accepted her ballet scholarship, and had taken a year of skating. In that year, she’d realised how much she really loved skating. As much as she loved the structure, the uniformity, of ballet, Tessa had somewhere along the way fallen in love with the feeling of carving the ice with her feet. The feeling of gliding and twirling, creating a story with her body. She decided, after her temporary affair with ballet, that she was going to take figure skating seriously, for real.

And moved to Michigan to achieve just that.

Tessa _hates_ thinking about her first few years in Michigan. They were hard, the coaches were too harsh, the training plans too extensive for her tiny body to keep up with. But the feeling of being on the ice made it worth it. The relief of landing a perfect jump, the pride of feeling all her training coming together, it made it worth it. Or just about.

She’d spent those years alone, the life of a singles skater, with no real support off-ice from her coach or host family, catching the bus back to London to see her real family as often as she could afford at twelve and thirteen years old. She often wondered what it would be like to compete as a pair. Or as a dancer. She loved watching the ice dancers twirl and move together so seamlessly, and, as she got older, wondered why she hadn’t chosen dance as a discipline for her, especially given her background in ballet. Instead, she braved the ice alone every time she competed.

Thank God for Kaitlyn, who came sometime through Tessa’s third year in Canton. Kaitlyn was exactly the sort of friend Tessa needed. Reliable, warm, funny, but understood the need to give her space after a bad skate. Knew that sometimes she needed to recuperate on her own instead of go to the mall or movies like most of the other girls at the rink.

Tessa internalised _everything_ , and, after a particularly bad day, needed to complete that process before being good company for anyone. And in return, Tessa kept Kaitlyn motivated and excited about skating. Kaitlyn had moved to Canton not knowing anyone either, and needed a friend just as badly. They pushed each other, challenged each other, and then were able to have a laugh at the mall about it on their rare days off.

Tessa was so jealous when they’d brought Andrew in to match with Kaitlyn. Not of Andrew himself, she _adored_ Andrew: not only a fellow Canadian, but a third amigo to the group against the world that her and Kaitlyn had started.

No, Tessa was jealous because Kaitlyn and Andrew skated beautifully together, even from the get-go. Every time they stepped on the ice together, they told a story. Seeing Kaitlyn and Andrew together confirmed everything Tessa had thought. She was meant to be an ice _dancer_.

And then the Weaver/Poje dream-team started training in Kitchener-Waterloo, and Tessa was all alone again. Maybe that was why she quit. She was a good skater; nobody could deny that. Not even the coaching team that made her practise and practise the same step sequences and spins until she’d pass out of sheer exhaustion. They did it because she “showed too much potential” to waste a second of training. She won just as many titles as a singles skater as Kaitlyn and Andrew had as dancers.

But when her shins just couldn’t hold up to her rigorous training schedule any longer, Tessa knew that was it. The sign she’d been looking for. She recovered from the surgery, a full recovery despite the many warnings from medical professionals, but her heart just wasn’t in it anymore.

Not enough to justify coming back to Canton. Not if she had to take that ice alone every time.

Maybe she should’ve pushed herself harder to find a partner… maybe she should have –

“Tess?” Kaitlyn interrupted her reverie. She was frowning. “Hon, are you alright? You’ve been over-studying again…”

“No, I’m all good. Tired, but all good. Tell me about Scott.”

At that, Kaitlyn smirked. “Well _Scott_ seems to be everything you’ve described him as.”  
Tess sighed, “So he’s real.”

“He’s real Tess. And it seems like he knows Andrew pretty well too?”

“He knows Andrew? But –“

“They trained in Waterloo together before I got there!”

“Oh… God, Kait, I need like a coffee or something. Or a vodka.”

Kaitlyn grinned at her friend, who, still un-showered and in her pyjamas, had started pacing around the dining area. She grabbed Tessa’s hand and squeezed it.

“Let’s go out for coffee and breakfast. We can have a chat about what our next steps in Operation Moir will be.”

“ _Operation Moir?_ Wait –no!– I have an exam tomorrow, I can’t go out for breakfast now.

“Sure you can. The exam hardly counts to your final mark anyway and you haven’t put your notes down in over a week. A coffee and some bacon won’t kill you, Tess.”

 _Bacon_. The way to Tessa’s heart. Sighing, she stomped back into her room to make herself presentable enough for the coffee shop around the corner.

 

* * *

 

 

And so it was decided over breakfast that the best course of action would be to call Scott. Well, it was decided by Kaitlyn, much to Tessa’s dismay.

Kaitlyn had laughed at every excuse Tessa had put forward not to call him. But now they knew he was a real person, with mutual connections no less, Tessa was running out of rationalisations. She _wanted_ to call him. But for the sake of appearances:

“I can’t just _call_ him. It’d be so out of the blue, so weird. We don’t actually know each other Kait.”

So the next best decision was to let Scott know who exactly he’d met in the early hours of the morning: the Kaitlyn that had set him and Tessa up in the first place was that very same Kaitlyn who was his old friend’s ice dance partner. And _then_ call him.

Tessa was _freaking out_. Through their incidental conversations, she knew Scott usually didn’t finish work until after dinnertime, and she certainly wasn’t about to interrupt him at work. Or maybe she should, maybe it would be less weird than trying to catch him at a time that she knew he’d be free. And alone.

So should she text him _now_ to let him know that their Kaitlyn’s were the same? Text him tonight, wait a day? Would it be too eager? Tessa hated coming across as too eager.

But it was eating away at her. She wanted to know if he remembered her (he probably wouldn’t).

 

She was so worried about Scott that she couldn’t even find the energy to stress over her exam. It was her last exam for the semester before the long break, and Kaitlyn was right. She wasn’t in any real danger of failing the course, but Tessa usually craved perfection in everything, including minor exams for non-compulsory subjects. It was just who she was, no matter how hard she tried to be the cool girl.

But, her nervousness over Scott overshadowed her senior-year stress, and it was almost refreshing to have something else to focus on.  

On the walk back to their apartment, Tessa pulled her phone out, biting her lip.

“Okay… what do I say to him?”

“You could just go right ahead with the ‘oh Scott I love you’? Or is that too strong for you, Tess?”

Tessa rolled her eyes. “I’m serious, Kait. What should I say?”

“Oh Tess, I think I’ve done enough. You’re on your own now.”

Groaning, and giving Kaitlyn a little shove, she pocketed her phone again. Tessa loved drafting things, being prepared. She’ll draft a message when they got back.

However, her phone buzzed before she had a chance to.

 

**_saw an old friend at work today… i think I’m starting to be much happier about quitting hockey, T. also! what is ur favourite movie? I couldn’t remember if it was funny face or funny girl but 1 of them is on tv tonite if u need a study break :)_ **

****

Tessa smiled despite herself. So did Kaitlyn, who was reading over her shoulder (and got another shove for doing so), as they approached the door of their place.

“Aww Tessy, he’s so sweet.”  
“Yeah,” Tessa answered absentmindedly, already typing away, “Thanks for breakfast, Kait. I’m gonna have a shower real quick.”

Kaitlyn let them both into their apartment and Tessa went straight to her bedroom, where the coast was clear to finish her message and press send.

 

**_Funny Face! Ooh I hope it is on tonight, I haven’t watched it for ages!! I’m really glad you’re okay about hockey, I know quitting something you’ve dedicated yourself to isn’t easy but sometimes it’s for the best :)_ **

****

Scott didn’t answer immediately. But his message gave Tessa the spark of courage (or stupidity?) that she needed to send the next message.

 

**_I know this is going to sound super creepy, but I think the friend you saw is a mutual one? Crazy right? My roommate Kaitlyn swears she met someone named Scott at Ilderton rink this morning…Any relation?_ **

****

Tessa held her breath, not sure how he would respond to her message. And kept holding it.

Scott didn’t reply for a minute. For two minutes. Then five. Tessa chewed her lip, her heart beating triple-time as she waited for the ellipses in the bottom-left corner to signify Scott was typing.

And then she nearly jumped out of her skin when her phone started to ring in her hand.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promised I wouldn't post it until I wrote another 1000 words on my research essay, but massive lol I got to 800 words and decided to anyway.


	6. chapter five

He pressed the red button to hang up almost immediately after clicking her name. His heart was racing am million miles an hour. What was he thinking? He couldn’t just call her like that. Could he?

He was on his lunch break at the rink, and from the seats above the rink, he watched some of the senior skaters twirl around in circles. He dropped his head into his hands, trying to get a grasp on what had just happened. So Tessa Virtue, the anonymous, basically accidental, Tinder match, lived with his friend’s skating partner.

No longer a stranger he met online, but a friend of a friend. And you could definitely call a friend of a friend, right?

(It only bugged him a little that he didn’t know what she looked like)

A few minutes passed before his phone vibrated in his lap.

 

**_Did you just accidentally call me?_ **

 

Oof. No emojis, no nothing. Tessa was being _short_ with him. And it bugged him that he even recognised that through a text message.

 

**_maybe…_ **

****

He pressed send, then reconsidered his message and corrected himself.

 

**_or…maybe not accidentally? it felt like the normal thing to do but its weird tho right?_ **

****

He didn’t know what she’d say to that. _You don’t actually know her_ , Scott reminded himself. Evidently, she didn’t know what to say to that herself. So Scott pushed a little further.

****

**_im really glad ur a real person_ **

****

That got her attention.

 

**_Why wouldn’t I be a real person?_ **

****

He breathed a sigh in relief, realising that she wasn’t going to go radio silence on him.

 

**_ive never met anyone online before you. its nice its but weird._ **

****

**_Me neither…I guess it is pretty weird! So… you and Andrew go back, huh?_ **

****

Scott had to blink a couple of times before answering.

****

**_old poje? didn’t know u knew him too! yeah we used to train together in waterloo_ **

****

**_He actually came to my rink in Michigan for a bit before he stole Kaitlyn away back to Canada_ **

****

Scott frowned. Michigan?

 

**_oh when were u in michigan?_ **

****

This was new territory. Where they having an actual conversation? About Tessa? For all their texting, it never really got _personal_. Or at least, Scott never ventured to ask Tessa too much about herself. Usually the personal stuff was about him, she never really offered too much.

 

**_I was in Michigan for a few years actually. I trained there when I was competing junior circuit. Trust me, I was very glad to come back to London._ **

****

**_hope u were still competing for canada tho T! can’t waste that fine canadian blood on an american medal_ **

****

**_Of course I was!!!!!_ **

****

“Oi, Scotty,” came Alma’s voice from across the rink. “Break ended ten minutes ago.”

 _Shit_.

He sent a final text to Tessa.

 

**_gotta get back to work, t! we can talk more tmrw after ur exam?…study hard and good luck!!_ **

 

The rest of the day went quickly for Scott. He’d sent a text sometime through the afternoon to Andrew asking about Tessa. He wanted, _needed,_ to know more about her.

He was unable to check his phone while he was twirling four-year-olds across the ice, and then five-year-olds, for hours before dinner. But when he did, right when he was supposed to lock up the rink for the night, he saw that he’d missed Andrew’s response.

 

**_tessa? as in virtue?????? shes a catch alright, didn’t know you were a thing that’s crazy!_ **

****

He bit the inside of his cheek. They were _not_ “a thing”.

 

**_dont know her that well actually…we matched on tinder a while back? just tryin to find out shes not too crazy u know??_ **

****

He flushed even as he typed it out.

 

**_bro… i’m throwing a little party thing this friday night and kait and tess both said they’d come…you can come and find out exactly how much of a catch she is for yourself?_ **

****

Scott’s stomach dropped.

Then he typed his message out.

 

**_ill be there_ **

 

* * *

 

 

The week dragged on for Scott. He’d texted Tessa the next day to ask how her exam went but hadn’t heard back. He’d imagined she’d gone out to celebrate with her roommate. Or her uni friends. Or her study group. Or her family? Or her boyfriend??

He really didn’t know anything about her life.

It got to Thursday night and he hadn’t heard from her. Then it got to Friday morning and he hadn’t heard from her. Then it was midday, and he hadn’t heard from her.  It was just about the longest they’d gone without texting, at least since they’d exchanged phone numbers. It worried him. Anything could have happened; and how would he know? She could have been killed. Or kidnapped. Or _anything_.

He’d texted Andrew to double check (it was actually a triple check, but who’s counting) that Tessa and Kaitlyn were coming. And they apparently were, so he could breath a bit easier.

Until it got to Friday afternoon, and he had to find something to wear. It was school holidays, so he’d had the day off teaching the little kids, and he had finished early afternoon, which unfortunately gave him the rest of the day to stress about Andrew's gathering.

Scott wasn’t what you would call ‘fashion focused’. His clothes mainly consisted of hockey jerseys, Leafs t-shirts and two pairs of worn-out jeans, that probably needed replacing anyway. He rolled his eyes at his ridiculousness, as he trialled a fourth outfit in front of the tiny mirror of the upstairs bathroom of his parent’s house, told himself to buck the fuck up and ended up wearing a plain black long-sleeve Henley with jeans. Inoffensive, comfortable, and classic Scott Moir.

He couldn’t believe how _nervous_ he was. He didn’t know if she knew he’d be there. Didn’t know if he’d recognise her (other than the girl who came with Kaitlyn, he guessed). Would she be friendly? Shy? Frumpy? (Probably, he assumed, given the grammatical attention given to her text messages)

He didn’t know. He just didn’t know, and it ate away at him.

 

* * *

 

Forgetting to factor in the drive from Ilderton, Scott arrived at Andrew’s place late (again, classic Scott Moir). Already, there was a decent group of people gathered in the living area of his house. He scanned the crowd looking for Andrew, and saw the giant in the kitchen talking to some other guys.

After wandering over, and politely introducing himself to his friends, Scott found himself in an easy conversation about hockey and weather with some of Andrew’s friends from college. Andrew had gone off to say hi to some other buddies but, Scott never really had trouble in social situations. He had always been comfortable with new people and easy-going enough to be liked by drunk people. Of which there were a _lot_ at Andrew’s party.

But, for some reason, he felt uneasy. Scott found himself scanning the faces of everyone at the party for Kaitlyn, or a blur of brown hair. All he had to go off to recognise Tessa was a blurry picture Kaitlyn had set as her Tinder profile, his efforts to track her down on other social media were for naught. But he knew what Kaitlyn looked like, and if his suspicions were to be believed, if she were here, she’d be hanging right around Andrew all night.

He was pretty sure they were more than skating partners

After an hour and a few beers, Scott was running out of people to meet. He’d done the circuit of guests and it was clear Tessa and Kaitlyn were not here. Feeling dejected, he went to find Andrew again to say goodbye. He felt slightly guilty that he was leaving early, especially since he’d made the drive from Ilderton, but guessed Andrew had a few too many to notice anyway.

Until he heard a melodic giggle from the front door. His head whipped up at the sound. And there she was. He knew it instantly. She stood beside Kaitlyn, looking slightly uncomfortable, with a small smile on her face, but she didn’t need to be with her for him to know who she was.

It was odd, he thought, how instinctually he knew.

But that was her.

Tessa Virtue.

And she was _beautiful_.

She was the sort of girl that it was impossible to look past. She commanded attention, although it seemed like she didn’t mean to; she didn’t look entirely comfortable doing so. From the distance across the living area, Scott could see she was wearing a jeans and a cropped t-shirt that revealed a sliver of pale, muscular stomach, layered under a black denim jacket. Her chestnut brown hair fell over her shoulders in delicate waves, but she had it firmly tucked behind her ears to reveal her face. Her eyes, a discerning, piercing green, didn’t leave Kaitlyn as they walked further into the room. Probably to find Andrew, Scott thought, almost bitterly. The gentle smile, painted in a peachy pink that only complimented her pale, freckly, face, gave her a lightness that made Scott feel warm.

 _Pull yourself together, Moir_.

He was stunned. Couldn’t move. He couldn’t tear his eyes from her, either, as she made her way through the room.

Her movements were so purposeful, with a definite grace that belied her years of figure skating training. He couldn’t approach her. No _way_. She was the most beautiful person at this whole party. He couldn’t embarrass himself like that, _God_.

And so he decided he’d just leave quietly. He’d seen her, that was that. And he was so impressed by her. That he’d been able to capture her attention for even a few months was amazing to him.

Downtrodden, but resigned, Scott caught Andrew’s eye and gave a small wave as he dashed towards the front door when he heard the sweet voice of a tipsy Kaitlyn Weaver call out from behind him.

“Scott Moir! Tess, look who it is!”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok yes, i know this took me longer than i thought but bro i have a life and i'm a full time student!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but anyway, enjoy!!! xxx


	7. chapter six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this took a bit longer than expected..............soz I guess

Kaitlyn had begged her to get dolled up – “We _never_ go anywhere, Tess!” – and Tessa had rolled her eyes, but agreed, like she usually does.

She’d taken the time to perfect her eye make-up, pulled on skin-tight jeans that sat high on her waist. Took time to decide on a t-shirt that made her feel comfortable but powerful (cropped, of course, she didn’t sweat hard in the gym for nothing), and picked out her favourite heeled boots that boosted her to Kaitlyn’s natural height. And, throwing on a leather jacket, she had stared at herself in the mirror for a long time, deciding whether it was too late to pretend to have cramps and skip out.

She really wasn’t the biggest fan of Andrew’s parties, or of parties in general for that matter. It wasn’t Andrew, exactly, its that whenever drunk Andrew and drunk Kaitlyn were in the same proximity, it usually meant Tessa was left alone for a while. A long while.

And whilst she loved her friends dearly, and was happy for their usually-restricted-to-when-they’ve-been-drinking relationship, Tessa _hated_ being alone at parties.

So you can forgive her for not being super enthusiastic about getting dressed up to come to Andrew’s on Kaitlyn’s arm.

They really didn’t live that far, and Tessa had offered to drive so that Kaitlyn could drink. The short drive over Tessa had to contain a small smile as Kaitlyn chattered about how well Andrew’s life was going.

“He’s doing _science_ , Tess!! At _Waterloo_!”

“I know. We’ve had this conversation.”

“He’s really smart.”

“Yes, I’m sure.”

Tessa smirked, her eyes not leaving the road. She was a cautious driver, after all.

“But like… _super_ smart…”

“Yes, Kait. He’ll conquer the world one day.”

“Don’t get any ideas Tessa Virtue. You and Andrew would be awful together.”

Tessa nearly laughed aloud at the very idea of it. Kaitlyn had staked that claim _years_ ago.

“Aw Kait, wouldn’t dream of it.”

Kaitlyn probably had had a couple of wines before they’d left.

* * *

 The party was already in full swing when she and Kaitlyn arrived.

Kaitlyn was always better at parties. She was a mingler, never too concerned in a room full of strangers. It had been that way ever since they were young, attending skating galas and post-competition dinners. 

She pranced through the door, dragging Tessa behind her. She claimed to be looking for the food, but Tessa knew her eyes were scanning for a six-foot-tall ice dancing partner instead.

Trying her hardest not to make eye contact with any of the pairs of eyes that had turned their way when they’d walked in (loudly, thanks to Kaitlyn), Tessa awkwardly stared at Kaitlyn until she’d found what she was looking for.

She got dragged towards where she could see Andrew lounging with a group of friends she vaguely remembered meeting before when she heard a gasp and felt a light tap in the arm to get her attention.

“Scott Moir!” Tessa’s blood ran cold. “Tess, look who it is!”

* * *

He turned quickly when he heard his name, looking sheepishly first at Kaitlyn before his eyes skipped to Tessa. Their eyes met, and she swore she could feel her heart in her throat.

He was exactly as she’d pictured. If this were a romance novel, this would be the part where she described him in intense detail.

 

_Her eyes swept up his frame to reveal that he was lean, not overly tall, but more than tall enough to look good next to Tessa’s petite frame. Jeans that looked like they needed replacing two years ago, with a Henley that neatly hugged over his broad shoulders. Dark mop of hair swooped over to one side, dark hazel eyes that radiated warmth. And a smile that –_

But this wasn’t a romance novel. Tessa had been completely blindsided by Scott Moir’s presence at this party.

As he started to make his way over to them, he held her gaze.

And then he was in front of them, and Tessa was glad that her she’d gone with her high boots, as she found she didn’t have to tilt her head back slightly to keep looking at his face, as she normally did with male company.

A grin erupted over his face, giving him a kind of youthfulness, and he stuck his hand out.

“Tessa Virtue, I assume?”

She blinked, before shoving her hand into his. His hand was warm, and she hoped he didn’t notice how weakly she returned his confident shake.

“The very one.”

Kaitlyn squealed and punched both Scott and Tessa in the upper arms at the same time before turning and grabbing Andrew’s arm.

“We’re gonna duck upstairs for a bit” – she shot Andrew a wink – “and let you lovebirds get to know each other a little better.”

And then they were gone.

And Scott and Tessa were alone, face-to-face, unable to look away from each other.

Tessa was, quite literally, speechless. She could not come up with a single intelligent thing to say to the man standing in front of her. He, it seemed, had the same problem.

The party blurred around them, drunk low-20-somethings laughing and cheering on some guy as he moved on to chug his third pint of the night. A room full of strangers chatting and dancing to whatever weird playlist Andrew had plugged in for the night. But Tessa couldn’t focus on any of that, unable to break eye contact with the man standing in front of her, surely cataloguing the details of her face as she was his.

Scott finally broke the silence, and his voice sounded thin, sounded _nervous_.

“Did you want to grab a drink?”

That is, however, _of course_ , when one of Andrew’s college buddies decided to grab Tessa by the arm. She jumped, finding herself now face-to-face with a very drunk man who was slurring something that sounded suspiciously like ‘let’s get outta here, pretty’.

She tensed, pulling her arm out of his grip. Tessa quite prided herself on her ability to look after herself at parties. Sure, she was never at her most comfortable surrounded by drunk people and loud music, but she has become quite good at rejecting the former. Scott, however was not to know this.

As she opened her mouth to tell him to _fuck off_ , Scott stepped into the (very small amount of) space between Tessa and this new guy, and shoved him so he stumbled backwards.

“I don’t think she’s interested, buddy,” he said, carefully, as if he was trying to keep his voice level.

Tessa, who hadn’t yet had the chance to say anything, let out a little hum of agreement, before looking up at Scott. She suddenly felt a surge of courage.

“Do you want to go for a walk?”

He exhaled, and murmured a quiet “ _please_ ”, that Tessa would have struggled to hear over the party noise, had he not been standing so inextricably close.

* * *

Scott and Tessa escaped the party, and found themselves slowly walking side by side around Andrew’s block making short and awkward conversation about the party, and how they knew nobody there. She was amazed at the symmetry of their gaits, how they seemed to mirror each other without any effort (at least on her part).

Andrew lived nearby to a small strip of shops, where they had found themselves a coffee shop that was open late to accommodate the weary-eyed students that were still drowning in their exams. Scott had pulled her into a booth in the corner and ordered two flat whites without even asking her coffee order (she recalls a conversation they had once a few months back about coffee, she must have mentioned in passing that she drinks flat white?) and once there was a hot mug sitting in front of each of them, the atmosphere between them thickened.

“I knew you were coming tonight. I hoped we would be able to chat like this,” Scott admitted, his eyes flicking down to his mug.

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I thought it’d be creepy if I did?”

Tessa giggled.

“Creepier than just showing up and not saying anything?”

“I guess,” he said, eyes flicking back up to her, “I promise I’m not creepy, really.”  
“I believe you.” She paused, taking a long sip of her mug before setting it back down and looking away. “I’m glad you came.”

“Me too, Tessa.”

And she smiled; a small flicker at the corner of her mouth, that lit up her eyes.

They sat in the little booth in the corner for over an hour, chatting about anything and everything and nothing. They jumped from topic to topic easily; from laughing at the grumpy man at the counter ranting to the barista about how his coffee wasn’t hot enough, to gossiping about Kaitlyn and Andrew’s party behaviour, to the (very) careful analysis of whether or not the Maple Leafs would make the playoffs this year.

Tessa was struck with how easily conversation flowed. She doesn’t know why this surprised her so much, it was exactly the case with their text message chains too. But _this_ , real life, having a living, breathing, warm and smiling Scott Moir sitting in front of her, was so much better.

There was rarely a stumble in the conversation, and she realised the rest of her coffee had gone cold as they’d been talking too long for her to remember to continue drinking it. She vocalised this, and he’d smirked, and she’d giggled, and he’d stared at her (kind of like he had been all night, but she’d been trying not to focus too much on it).

“You’re beautiful.”

Her eyes snapped to his. He had a way of making everything sound sincere, serious, and this was no exception. He said it with a conviction that made Tessa’s heart skip twice, as blood rushed to the highs of her cheeks.

“I don’t… I – thank you,” she stammered, no longer able to handle the way his eyes bored into hers.

“You’re welcome,” he said, simply, seemingly happy that she accepted the compliment without deflection. And then he launched into another random conversation, about how his brother Charlie’s new girlfriend might be more serious this time.

She could hardly keep up with the whiplash. He launched from one conversation to the next, dropping little compliments in between that kept her on her toes, and kept the flush in her face. She was sure she was bright red by the time he yawned, apologised, and asked if she had a lift home.

She shook her head, “I drove here with Kait but guessing she’ll stay over with Andrew so I was going to leave her the car to get back in the morning. It’s not a far walk.”

“Let me walk you home?”

Tessa opened her mouth to protest, but the look in his eyes betrayed how nervous he was, despite how intently he had asked, and found herself nodding. 

* * *

 

They dawdled towards her apartment, continuing on their random conversations about anything they happened to think of. At one point she’d shivered in protest of the cool night air, and Scott had wordlessly offered her his arm to tuck herself into, which she graciously did. And if she leant her face ever so slightly into his shoulder, then who’s to blame her?

It felt like no time at all when they’d made it to the front of her building.

“This is me,” she said quietly, unable to quite move herself from clinging to his arm yet.

He looked up at the building wordlessly, then ducked his head down to look at her.

“Then I guess this is good night,” he murmured into the practically non-existent space between them, “I’m really glad I got to meet you tonight.”

She stood up, detaching herself from his arm, and reached for his hand. She squeezed it gently.

“I’m really glad I got to meet you tonight too.”

He smiled, a beautiful radiant smile that lit up his whole face.

Her heart threatened to stop as he leaned towards her, her eyes flickering shut as he came closer. She felt him gently press his lips to the high of her cheek, once, then twice. She felt him breathe softly against her face, and she knew he was lingering, deciding. Then, he stood back up and her eyes opened back up to look at him.

He held her gaze for a few more seconds before stepping back.

“Good night, Tessa Virtue.”

She blinked, not quite recovered from his closeness. He was smiling at her, waiting for her to respond.

“Good night, Scott Moir,” she echoed.

And then she turned on her heel and walked into her apartment building, slightly shaken, and very cold.

It was late, and she hadn’t realised how tired she was until she got through her door and collapsed onto her bed. She heard her phone buzz from the bedside table, and groaning slightly she picked it up, hoping it wasn’t Kaitlyn wanting to bring Andrew back.

Instead, Scott’s name had popped up on her home screen, and she unlocked her phone hastily, her eyes scanning the screen.

_are u free for dinner on sunday night?_

 

 


	8. chapter seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, sorry it took so long. But like I'm a full-time student so not THAT sorry. But sorry enough that I'll try to get the next one a bit faster!!! Much love, have a good week everyone xxx

Scott had been kicking himself all night, on his drive back to Ilderton in the early hours of the morning. He couldn’t wait _one stupid night_ to ask her out? He had to do it merely an hour after dropping her off? _Are you that desperate, Scotty?_

Short answer: yes.

Scott hadn’t been on a proper date since he was 21. And, sure, a quick night out here and there helped to fill the space, but it really wasn’t the same. A nameless blonde was fun for a bit, but he was getting restless, lonely. Until Tessa.

And she wasn’t some random girl he’d picked up at a party, either. He couldn’t have anticipated how months of short and sweet text messages had served as some kind of twisted conversational foreplay. Like they’d gotten to know each other in the wrong order.

She knew enough about his life and his job to ask about how his students were going, and he knew enough about her to know they’d both watched _Jeopardy_ last Thursday night, and could talk about that. He knew what coffee she would drink, based on that time she’d complained about there being too much milk froth in her coffee once for it to be a _real_ flat white. She’d sounded very serious about that one.

And he knew a million and one other little things, that he couldn’t wait to cover in more depth over dinner.

He was _excited_. How embarrassing.

Tessa Virtue was just… outstanding. Their night together had been perfect. She’d valiantly laughed every time he’d tried to make her, she kept up with his million miles an hour conversations, and she was, _God,_ so, so pretty. And he hadn’t failed in letting her know he thought so.

Scott Moir, you fucking _loser_.

He went into work the next day, trying to hide the fact that he was checking his phone far too regularly to be healthy. After hours of demonstrating curves and twirls to the kids, when he was ready to close the rink for the night, his phone still hadn’t buzzed.

His heart was sinking. He’d never waited this long for a response from her before, apart from after he’d wished her luck on her exam. _Of course_ she isn’t interested.

He looked at the read receipt sitting under his last message. She’d seen it _immediately_.

Scott didn’t even know what to think. He was so sure they’d had fun last night. _He’d_ had what he thought was one of the best dates of his life.

Obviously it wasn’t a date, though, if Tessa’s lack of response was anything to go off. She was always so prompt, enthusiastically engaging in whatever random crap he came up with at the time. But now she’d met him in real life, and was obviously disappointed.

Trying to ignore Tessa, or the lack thereof, Scott drove straight home. When he got inside he had a quick shower and flopped straight into bed, brushing aside his mother’s insistence that he needed dinner, choosing instead to wallow in his miserable bubble.

* * *

Scott had always been like this. After a crappy game, after a bad skate, after failing a test in school. He’d always shut down completely, somehow turning off his mind from everything and sleeping for hours upon hours at a time; some kind of bizarre hibernation.

He’d never hibernated over a girl before. At least, not since he was 16 and one of the older girls at the rink has been flirting with him for weeks. Long story short, she was practising on him before trying it on with one of the senior hockey boys, and it broke a teenaged, lovesick, Scott Moir’s heart.

This felt different, though. Scott genuinely thought he and Tessa had a good night. He knew he came across as too eager, but he didn’t actually think she’d turn him down. Not after their coffee night, where she’d shyly smiled across the table at him, and let him walk her home. Not like this, not without a gentle let down anyway. Did he miss a sign somewhere?

Did _she_?

Anyway, once Scott was showered and collapsed into a heap in his bed, he pushed all thoughts of Tessa Virtue out of his mind, and promptly fell asleep.

* * *

 Checking his phone in the morning, he was immediately disheartened at the lack of “(1) Tessa Virtue” that he’d grown accustomed to seeing in the mornings. Then he remembered he was in hibernation mode, which meant strictly no worrying about girls, no worrying about life.

He went through his morning routine (a very quick shower, followed by getting dressed in the first clean t-shirt and sweats he managed to get his hands on in his drawer), grabbed some toast on his way out and headed to the rink for another day of watching kids fall over on the ice he’d grown up on.

And everything about that rink that he normally loved just seemed annoying for some reason. For the most part, it was an ordinary day. Crazy parents pointing out to coaches which kid was a better jumper, other parents trying to haggle down skating fees. Ever the people-person, Scott usually excelled at handling those sorts of customers, but he was _so_ off his game.

After the slowest morning of his life, he looked at the clock.

11:42

Sighing, he counted down the hours until his class of kids showed up and he could get his ass away from the angry mums and constantly ringing phone.

And with that thought the phone started ringing again. Scott groaned, and reached for it, wondering if hockey was ever really all that bad. If this was _one more fucking mother trying to get her son transferred into the next level class_ –

“Good morning, Ilderton Skating Club. Scott speaking.”

“Oh…um…hi Scott.”

He sucked in a deep breath. It was _her_.

“Tessa?”

“Hi, yeah. Um. Of course you’re working. I should’ve expected you to answer the phone.”

“Well…yeah.”

“I was looking to book some rink time? Maybe tonight if there’s anything available, or tomorrow night?”

“Oh, right umm…”

Scott trailed off, trying to make sense of the conversation he was currently having. Was this real life? Had he hit his head somewhere?

“Hello? Are you still there?”

He realised he hadn’t answered her yet.

“Oh um…last class tonight finishes at 9. We uhh… well we technically close then, but I’m in charge of closing so I can keep it open for another hour or so if you needed it tonight?”

She waited a quick beat before answering.

“Yep, tonight at 9 is great, if you don’t mind. I’m happy to pay whatever!”

She sounded so _cheerful_. And by the time he hung up the phone, and wrote Tessa’s name into the schedule, he realised a small smile had taken hold of his lips.

* * *

She arrived at 8:30. Deathly early.

Scott was still in the middle of his class with some of the more experienced minis, who hung onto his every word while he showed them knee-bending techniques to gain speed. He didn’t even really notice her at first, as he pulled along a five-year-old who wasn’t quite getting the hang of pushing off the ice with her back leg to propel herself.

When he did finally glance up, to see a smiling Tessa standing by the boards near the entrance, he had to stop himself from tripping as he did a double take.

She looked very different to how she did last night.

Her hair was bundled on top of her head messily, but carefully, so that none obstructed her face, and she was wearing skin-tight leggings with an oversized blue jumper that looked liked it could just as easily double as pyjamas. She was the exact opposite of the dressed up partygoer with the reservedly sexy make up and perfectly tousled hair that he’d had coffee with last night. She lifted a hand in a small wave, and he noted she looked slightly uncomfortable, but maintained eye contact, determined not to show it too much.

 _This_ was the girl he’d been texting with. Who stayed up texting him late every night with her nose in a textbook. Who complained to him every morning that Kaitlyn dragged her to the gym. Short sweet text exchanges that managed to fill a bit of the gap in his life formed by the absence of hockey, of a purpose.

 _This was that girl_.

Scott smiled and lifted a hand shortly in greeting, before returning (or at least, trying to) his full attention to the over-zealous class in front of him.

After a very long half hour of correcting posture and showing the kids the best way to balance in order to change edges, it was time for them to pack up and leave with their parents.

Tessa hadn’t moved from her spot by the boards. He knew this through (several) fleeting glances over to her during the class, hoping she hadn’t noticed the embarrassing number of times he’d looked her way. She was seemingly enthralled with watching his class.

After seeing off some of the parents and waving goodbye to the kids on their way out he looked he finally skated over to her. He grabbed his guards where they sat on the board near Tessa, and stepped carefully off the ice.

With his skates on, he was much taller than her. In her high heeled boots from the night previous they’d almost been at the same height. Scott decided he much preferred the height difference.  

“Good evening,” he said, inwardly wincing at the high note of his voice that belied his nervousness.

“Hi Scott.”

Her voice was quiet, thoughtful. Her head tilted back slightly to lock her wide green eyes with his. She looked like she was waiting for him to say something, but he was struggling to come up with anything.

“Uhh… rinks yours til 10. I’m gonna have a quick shower and do some admin stuff in there –“ he pointed to the office near the door – “so let me know if you have any issues and I’ll –“

He was cut off by the full weight of Tessa Virtue launching at him. She pressed her lips firmly to his, slightly off balance due to the fact she was on her toes trying to reach him. On instinct, Scott’s arms wrapped around her to steady her, but had to lean on the boards with the force she’d thrown herself at him with.

After a long moment, she pulled back. Her cheeks were flushed pink, her eyes wide and bright. Scott had no idea what just happened, only that he knew he wanted it to keep happening. But uncertainty held him back, and he slowly pulled his arms away from her and pushed his back firmly against the boards while Tessa lowered herself back to the ground.

Neither of them were willing to break eye contact.

Scott’s mouth opened to say something, but Tessa broke him off.

“I wanted you to do that the other night.”

“Oh...Well I’m sorry I didn’t.”

“Yeah, well that’s okay I guess.”

There was another long silence. Tessa had drawn her bottom lip in between her teeth, and Scott tried to look anywhere but her mouth. He was failing.

“Why didn’t you answer my text?”

He wanted to _kick_ himself for how desperate his voice sounded. He was trying not to be whiney but Tessa had just shown up after ignoring him for two days, and fucking _kissed him_. He thought he deserved an answer.

“I just…wanted to be sure.”

He blinked at her, not comprehending. She looked down at the ground before going on.

“Texting seemed too impersonal. You know? It didn’t seem like a real relationship, right? I just wanted to be sure it was a real thing. The night of the party was…really lovely, Scott, but it threw me a bit. I wasn’t expecting it. I needed to make sure we had _this_ –“ she gestured between them frantically – “in real life.”

He was shaking his head at her. She was _impossible_.

“That doesn’t make any sense, Tessa.”

“But I _do_ want to go out for dinner with you. Definitely. And soon?”

Scott blinked. _Did she just…?_

“You do?”

“Of course.”

“Well that’s a relief. I don’t know what I would’ve done if you’d turned up, kissed me like _that_ , then turned around and left me forever.”

She let out a short scoff of laughter.

“Shut up.”

“Yeah, alright.”

And he stepped forward and pressed another short, sweet kiss to her lips, then another to her cheek.

“Rink’s all yours, Kiddo. You’ve still got 45 minutes.”

* * *

 

He was trying to tidy up the desk in the office, but ended up watching her through the large window in front of him. He couldn’t help but watch as she skated quick figure-8’s around the ice, twirling around and spinning as she confidently stroked across the ice. She looked so strong, so comfortable, so unlike the awkward girl at Andrew’s party.

Scott could hardly believe the difference.

The minutes ticked by as he watched her, she was so graceful gliding across the ice. A far cry from the kids that had been waddling around in circles an hour before her. He noticed the time on a small clock on the desk.

9:50

Sighing, he pulled himself out of the office and walked over to the boards, leaning his forearms against the border around the ice.

Tessa slowed down the spin she was currently in and glided over to where he was standing. He tapped his wrist.

“Nearly time?”

He nodded. “Ten minutes. Stay a bit later though, if you like. Free of charge.”

She smirked, gripping the boards with hands that had turned a bizarre shade of pale purple in the cold of the rink.

“Care to join me for a bit?”

Scott was taken aback for a moment.

“Oh, I – uh… it’s been a while since I skated with anyone taller than my hip and –“

“Please?”

She was looking at him earnestly, her wide green eyes boring into him. He found himself unable to say no.

Sighing a quiet “ _yeah, alright_ ”, he wandered back over to his bag and pulled out his incredibly worn old skates, tying them up quickly and tightly, before joining her on the ice.

Tessa was looking down at her skates, and seemed slightly unsure now that he was actually on the ice with her, so he stood up straight and offered her his hand. She took it without hesitation, and their fingers laced together almost automatically.

Pulling her forward into a simple dance hold, she let him lead her across the ice in a simple pattern that they’d teach basically any ten-year-old with any skating ability. They skated closely together, kept an even speed and distance that Scott had never remembered having with other partners. They didn’t speak, didn’t have to, aside from the few quiet _“oohs_ ” Tessa breathed as they took a turn a bit too close to the boards, but he always made sure she was on the inside, not letting her close enough to the boards to crash.

Scott had always been a magnificent skater. It just came so naturally to him, and his confidence on the ice meant that he was able to pull Tessa around without any hesitation. She followed wherever he led her, spun under his arm as he twirled her around.

After a short while, she broke out of his arms abruptly, skating straight to the boards. Scott watched her, slightly dazed, before following her. She was facing the boards, breathing heavily, eyes clenched shut.

“You alright?” he said breathlessly, trying to get enough air into his lungs to actually make sure she was okay.

“Yeah its… I’m fine. My legs – they pull me up a bit if I skate too much now.” 

“Oh,” was all Scott could say, secretly relieved that it wasn’t anything that he’d done to scare her away.

He gave her a few minutes to catch her breath, before putting his hand tentatively on the small of her back.

“Wanna get outta here? There’s a late night coffee place down the road, I’ll buy you a hot chocolate.”

A smile crept at the corners of her mouth and she nodded, taking the hand he’d offered her. He hesitated a brief moment before bringing her hand to his mouth and brushing his lips against it. She said nothing, but looked at him intently.

She was only limping a little bit as they changed out of their skates and pulled on their coats, and Tessa watched as Scott made sure everything was locked up in the rink.  

When he was done, he turned around and smiled at her and clapped his hands together.

“Let’s go.”


	9. chapter eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay so that's that! There's probably not much more to go with this unless anyone wants to chuck me a really dicey plot twist that I can try and incorporate?
> 
> And yeah this one took a while. And so might the next one. I have five exams in the next two weeks so I'm not liking my chances of not having a breakdown before then. Anywayyyyyyyyyyy

Seeing Scott was, remarkably, very easy.

Their first real date, at a small pizza place just outside of the city, a date which he refused to let her pay for in any way, shape or form, had gone amazingly. Almost surprisingly amazingly. Tessa, after hours and hours of stressing to Kaitlyn over the lack of first-date-appropriate dressed in their shared wardrobe, the limpness of her hair, the small patch of hair on her left leg that she’d missed shaving, did not have a shred of doubt about her appearance the moment Scott had opened the door to her. His dark eyes swept over her figure, wrapped in a hunter green satin dress, elevated due to the three extra inches provided by her black heels. His gaze had made her feel warm and thankful Kaitlyn had done a full face of make up, hoping it hid the flush making its way over her cheeks.

Scott had looked _good_. Black button down tucked into dark grey chinos, with a leather jacket over the top. Casual enough to make her feel at ease, but dressy enough to look like he was taking this date seriously. She’d smiled across at him, their height difference minimal when she was wearing heels, and he’d leant forward to brush a small kiss over her crimson-painted lips. Then he stood back, offered her his arm, and gestured towards the corridor as he led her to their dinner.

Since then, she found herself spending time with him almost every day of the week. 

As she was on university break, and hadn’t quite gotten around to finding that holiday job that Jordan kept pressuring her to get, she found herself making the drive out to Ilderton quite regularly.

He didn’t teach every day of the week, though, and sometimes he was finished by lunch time. On those days, she’d meet him at work and drive them back to London for a nice coffee and walk down the main street. He took her to all his favourite eateries, and she took him to hers. She showed him her favourite bookstores, and he took it all in, even though she suspected he didn’t appreciate a rustic bookstore-turned-cafe as much as she did.

Even on days where they did not see each other, he made sure to text her every day. Just short little messages designed to remind her that he was thinking of her. It was gross, thought Tessa, even as she replied to every single one.

He seemed to be interested in every facet of her life. Usually, Tessa would be incredibly wary of this, but she couldn’t help but feel warm when he asked if she would show him around her university, or where asked where her and Kaitlyn went shopping on the weekends.

This did not go both ways. While he took her to his favourite places to eat, he had gone quiet when she asked for him to show her anything related to hockey. He offered very little about his home life, and as far as she could tell, his family had no idea she existed. Meanwhile, Kaitlyn and Jordan, the two most important people in her life, both had met Scott. (Jordan was by accident, when Tessa and Scott had run into her at a café on one of their quasi-dates)

She wasn’t sure why he was so closed book, especially when he had been so contrary before she’d kissed him. And speaking of the kissing, it was a lot rarer than she would have liked. Scott was very happy to cling onto her hand as they wandered down the street, or nuzzle into her chee k when he stood beside her in the queue for coffee, but actual _real_ kissing? Was a no-go. Quite frankly, Tessa was annoyed by it. When she told Kaitlyn, so was she.

And speaking of Kaitlyn, she was _rapt_ when she found out about Scott and Tessa’s ongoing relationship. And by _rapt_ , she was literally drafting wedding invitations on the dining table when Tessa got home one day from a hair appointment.

“I think you should just tell him you want to kiss him more. Not his fault he’s a prude.”

Tessa rolled her eyes – “grow up, Kait,” – and wandered into the kitchen to make some toast for dinner. That’s when she saw.

A thick envelope addressed to her.

Her exam results.

The envelope stared at her from where Kaitlyn had propped it up on the counter.

“I was gonna tell you it was here, but I didn’t want you to rush away from Scotty-dearest,” called Kaitlyn from the dining table.

“I…wasn’t with Scott,” Tessa said, grabbing the envelope and dashing back out to where Kaitlyn was sheepishly hiding the paper entitled “You’re Invited”.

She ripped open the paper, her eyes scanning over the scores she’d received.

Two A’s and two A+’s stared back at her. The corners of her lips turned up as she stared back at the paper, relief flooding through her chest.

 _Only one more semester to go_.

Kaitlyn, who had been watched her carefully, peeked over at the paper and let out a squeal.

“Tessa!” she cried, grabbing on to her wrist. And because she was 21 and living in a student apartment with her best friend, Kaitlyn then said, “That’s it, I’m calling it. We’re throwing a party. _You_ need to celebrate, and I need a night of drinking. I’ll invite Scott and Andrew, it’ll be fun!”

And Tessa, who would’ve usually said no thanks, just nodded, her gaze not leaving the paper.

 

* * *

The next night, Kaitlyn had somehow managed to turn the living room of their shoebox student apartment into an almost-dancefloor, and had spent two weeks of her pay-check at the liquor shop two blocks down.

Kaitlyn was a master of networking, and, it seems, was friends with the entire student body. She looked around for people she knew but to no avail. People Tessa had never seen before were lounging around over her house, their drinks precariously close to spilling over her beloved white armchair. Kaitlyn and Andrew had wandered off somewhere quiet as soon as he’d arrived. A quick glance at the clock told her that Scott was late.

What a _surprise_.

It could’ve been the four glasses of shiraz she’d had, but suddenly Tessa found herself angry. Angry at Kaitlyn for invited strangers into her space, angry at herself for ever agreeing to the stupid party, and mostly angry at Scott for never being on time for _anything_.

Picking up her half-empty glass and a nearby unopened bottle of red, Tessa stormed into her room, pulling up some random TV show on her laptop and slumping in her desk chair clutching her glass.

A few minutes later she heard a knock, and yelled a short ‘it’s not open’ to whoever was on the other side.

Whoever was on the other side, however, didn’t seem to hear her, or care to, and pushed the door open anyway.

“Hey…Tess? Sorry I’m late, I was trying to get… Tessa?” He stopped short when he saw her flopped into the desk chair clutching at her red wine.

Tessa, even through the haze of wine, knew she must’ve looked pretty ridiculous. Her hair and makeup was picture-perfect (or at least it was before the wine was opened), and she was wearing a black bandage dress that accentuated everything perfectly. And this beautiful outfit, which had taken her over two hours to perfect, was wasted on her curled up in her room, cradling her alcohol to her chest.

“It’s fine, party’s out there,” she said flippantly, jerking her head towards the door.

“Tess?” he approached her slowly, a small smile on his face. “What’s up Tessa?”

Tessa, however, wasn’t in the mood for fragility. She was restless, a little bit drunk, and a little bit angry.

“Why are you late to _everything_. Where were you for the last two hours I’ve been here getting _drunk_ and being _lonely_. You just go and _fuck off_ when its convenient, you won’t talk to me about _anything_ and now you won’t _leave me alone_.”

She tried to fix an angry look at him, but her vision of him swam slightly in the darkness of her bedroom.

He knelt down in front of her and placed his hands on her knees. She couldn’t help but notice how soft his hair looked, and then couldn’t stop herself from reaching forward to brush her fingers through it.

Scott smiled at her warily. “You done, Tess?”

Sighing haughtily, she nodded. Then she knocked back the rest of her glass of wine.

Scott took the glass off her, and placed it on her desk beside her laptop.

“How were you lonely, T? You’ve squeezed more people out there than live in London.” Her eyes avoided his, and his fingers tensed around her knees, trying to get her attention.

“I was looking forward to you being here,” Tessa mumbled, slightly embarrassed, but also drunk enough for it not to really matter. “I wanted to tell you but you just were _late_ like always.” Her tone held much less malice than it had before.

He nodded. “Yeah, I’m sorry. That’s my bad. I’ll try and be better for you next time.”

Tessa watched him for a long moment, trying to gage whether he meant it.

Then she hurled forward to press her lips to his. Hard.

After a short moment’s hesitation, he pushed back. They hadn’t kissed like this since the night at the rink, and Tessa found herself smiling into the kiss. After a moment they pulled back, but only slightly, only enough to breathe.

“You never kiss me like that,” Tessa stated. “Why?”

Scott pulled back frowning.

“I don’t want to pressure you into –“

“For fuck’s _sake_ , Scott,” she groaned, pressing her lips back into his. She then pushed herself off the chair, onto his lap. Her lips didn’t leave his as she combed her hands through his fluffy hair. He let out an audible sigh as she did, not showing any indication of losing momentum.

She kept pushing him backwards until she was lying over him, him on his back on the floor beside her desk. She supported her weight on her hands and knees, but pushed forward when she felt his hands trailing up the backs of her thighs.

Suddenly, though, he pulled back, wincing as his head hit the floorboards as he did so. She giggled quietly, reaching up to rub where the back of his head had collided with the floor.

“You’ve been drinking, Tess.”

“So?”

“This has to happen right. Please, Tess, let me make it perfect, okay?”

She groaned, dropping her forehead to his. She could feel him against her leg, had known he was enjoying himself. And he _still_ wanted to pull away.

“Hey, hey,” he murmured, his hands coming up to cup her cheeks. “Let me do it properly. We’ll go somewhere really nice, we can stay at a hotel, something from one of those movies you love so much.”

“ _Scott_ ,” she groaned, “can’t we just fuck now?”

He jolted at her language. Her abrasiveness. Maybe she _had_ had too much to drink. His eyes darkened and she noticed him wet his lips before leaning up to give her another short kiss on the lips. He then took her hand and trailed it down his front so she could feel him.

“Trust me, I want to. But not while you’ve been drinking. Please, Tess?”

She groaned again. Why had she let herself keep drinking?

“Yeah,” she whispered to him, rolling to the floor beside him.

He got up and offered her his hands to help her up.

“Lets go and meet some people out there, and if not we can always creep of to a quiet corner like Kaitlyn and Andrew” – her eyes lit up – “to _talk_ , Tessa. No funky stuff.”

She pouted, but took his hand anyway when he offered it to her.

“And Tess?”

“Hmm?”

“Congratulations on your results,” he said, kissing her firmly on the forehead before leading her out to the party.

* * *

And Tessa didn’t really enjoy herself at the party.

But she couldn’t really complain when Scott agreed to stay at her place overnight, and she fell asleep fully clothed in the close embrace of a similarly fully-clothed Scott Moir.

 

 

 


	10. chapter nine

Scott blinked awake in the darkness of very early morning, his body clock adapted to the training hours of the rink. It took a few moments of his eyes adjusting to realise he wasn’t in his childhood bedroom. It only took another moment to register the warm body pressed against his side, his right arm curled firmly under it. Smiling, he turned his head to kiss Tessa on the forehead, before turning onto his side to bring his other arm over her to pull her into him. Closing his eyes, he tucked her head under his chin, breathing in the faint smell of pomegranate emanating from her hair.

It must have been another hour before he woke again. Their position remained unchanged, with Tessa pressed into Scott’s chest, his arms wrapped firmly around her.

“Tess,” he murmured into her forehead, pulling his head back slightly to look down at her sleeping face. He repeated himself when she didn’t stir, and she responded with a muffled grunt to indicate she was awake but that she did _not_ want to be.

“I’m gonna go,” he whispered to her, his hand stroking over her back. Her emerald eyes opened to frown at him, her hands curling in the front of his t-shirt.

“No,” she whispered, tightening her hold on his shirt and closing her eyes to snuggle back into his chest. The air in her room was cold, no doubt a symptom of a shoebox apartment funded with a student budget.

“Just to get some food,” he whispered back to her, “there’s a nice coffee shop downstairs, I saw last night.”

Huffing out a low moan, Tessa nodded, her eyes still clenched shut. He smiled at her, pressing a gentle kiss between her eyebrows and pulling her hands away from his shirt. Giving them a gentle squeeze, he rolled out of her bed and pulled the blankets back around her.

She had already fallen back asleep.

Scott, as quietly as he could, got her a glass of water and left next to her bed a couple of painkillers that he’d found in the cabinet above the fridge, preparing for the hangover she would inevitably have once she had woken up properly. Then, he snuck out of the apartment, pulling his coat off the rack next to the door.

* * *

When Scott returned (to an unlocked apartment, much to his disapproval), he found a grumpy looking Tessa wrapped in her duvet sitting at the kitchen counter, a rambunctious Kaitlyn talking a million miles per hour at her as she made a pot of coffee.

“Scott!” Kaitlyn sang as she welcomed him into the kitchen. Shooting her a smile, he dropped a bag of pastries onto the counter, leaning over to kiss Tessa gently on the cheek.

“I come bearing breakfast,” he announced, wrapping his arms around Tessa over the enormity of blankets she’d buried herself in.

“Thank _God_ ,” came a voice from behind him. Scott startled and craned his neck to find Andrew, his enormous frame curled onto the sofa in the living area connected to the kitchen.

“Hey man,” Scott said, looking between Kaitlyn and Andrew for an explanation that wasn’t provided. “There’s plenty there,” he said, pointing to the bag. Tessa leaned back into Scott, tilting her head to rest on his shoulder to look up at him. “Thank you,” she murmured, her lips curling into a tiny smile. He gently knocked his temple against hers, tightening his hold on her as Kaitlyn readied the coffee and placed the pastries onto a platter.

Breakfast was nice. Tessa didn’t say much (or anything, really), but she kept her left hand tangled with his as she grasped an enormous mug of coffee in her right. Kaitlyn gossiped about people from the party last night, recounted the highlights and openly flirted with Andrew over the breakfast bar. Which generally Scott only found mildly uncomfortable, as he squeezed Tessa’s hand. He was struck with how _comfortable_ this was, instead of the awkward morning-after he’d anticipated.

“Andrew and I are going out later,” Kaitlyn announced after the foursome had finished the pastries. “We are?” Andrew asked, to which Kaitlyn shot him a frown. “We are now, I need to go for a walk,” she told him, getting up and holding her hand out to drag him into her bedroom. She shot Tessa a smirk and a quick thumbs-up before closing the door behind them.

Tessa said nothing for a long moment, reaching forward to pour herself another mug of Kaitlyn’s (very) strong black coffee. Scott watched her carefully, but her eyes never flicked up to meet his, instead firmly focusing on the counter in front of her.

“Hey, Tess?” Scott said, in what he hoped was a casual tone of voice. She hummed in response, her eyes still downcast. “Are we going to talk about last night?”

She closed her eyes and moaned. “I’d prefer not to,” she said, bringing the mug up to her mouth. He walked up to her, placing his hand on her cheek.

“Please?” he whispered, pushing a piece of her hair behind her ear.

She looked up at him, her eyes piercing into his. They were a shade of green he’d never seen before; a formidable forest green that he could’ve looked into for years.

“Why are you half-assing this, Scott?” she said, apparently deciding to cut right to the chase.

He blinked. “I’m not sure wha-“

“The piss-weak kissing. You never talk about your life, its always about me. Like, it’s nice that you’re interested, but _God_ Scott its like you want to become a Tessa Virtue _encyclopaedia_ and it’s getting a bit tiring. Does your brother even know I exist? Like what are we _doing_ Scott, I mean…”

She trailed off when he pressed a sweet kiss to the top of her cheek.

“What do you want to know?” he asked, reaching his hand out to thread through the hair at her temple.

It was Tessa’s turn to blink at him.

“I mean… I don’t have anything _specific_ but in general just…” she murmured, shifting a little bit. She huffed, frowning.

“You need to start _talking_ Scott. God knows you’re a good listener, it’s fine, it’s _great_ , really, but you just have to start giving me stuff. I miss when we were texting, you told me everything then.”

He knew exactly what she was getting at, but why she would be interested in him, he had no idea. He was a _failure_. He dropped figure skating as soon as hockey caught his interest. He stuck at hockey until he lost his ice time. Then he quit.

Fuck, he lived with his _parents_.

He sighed and pressed his forehead to hers, trailing his hands down her arms to tangle with her fingers. He closed his eyes.

In front of him sat this brilliant, shining light of a woman, crushing university, going and getting a degree. How was he supposed to measure up to that? He loved hearing about her life because she was living it, living it in a way Scott hadn’t been. She was _thriving_ in her early 20’s. He couldn’t come up with a single way to tell her all this, of course, so he just pressed his head to hers and tried to communicate it telepathically.

Which didn’t work, obviously.

“You’re brilliant, Tess,” he murmured to her. “I’ll try more. I want this. I really, really do.”

“You promise?” she said to him, squeezing his hands in hers.

He nodded against her, his eyes opening to catch hers. Then he wrapped her arms around her and kissed her temple.

“And the sex thing?” Tessa asked into his shoulder.

He let out a short laugh. Apparently the bottle of wine she drank wasn’t enough to clear her memory of everything that was said last night.

“ _Very_ soon, Kiddo.” 

* * *

Scott was nervous. The night after their conversation in her kitchen, he’d picked up Tessa and taken her to a nice restaurant downtown. A very _Tessa_ restaurant; modern décor, fine food and wine, but relaxed enough to have a comfortable conversation (and affordable enough for a man who worked for his mother).

She looked beautiful, he thought, in a navy button-down shirt and black pants that hugged her legs all the way down to the black ankle boots that elevated her height by at least an inch and a half.

After they had eaten, they shared a chocolate sundae. Scott was trying to listen to what she was telling him about her brother’s impromptu trip to Australia, but he found himself unable to look away from her lips, painted in a pale pink lipstick that was slightly smudged from their dinner.

She’d managed to talk him out of renting a hotel for the night, so they had negotiated that he would take her out for dinner, before bringing her back to her place. He’d begged Kaitlyn to stay out for the night, and she teasingly promised she’d be out until _at least_ ten, but a quick text to Andrew assured Scott that she’d already planned to spend the full night at his place anyway.

So, yeah, Scott was nervous. He hadn’t been with a girl since he’d started talking to Tessa, and he certainly didn’t want to disappoint. Of course, he’d never really had any complaints, but still.

“Scott?” Tessa asked, her spoon midway to her mouth when she realised he hadn’t been listening for at least a minute.

“I think you should finish the ice cream quick, Tessa,” he said, shaking himself back into the present, his eyes flicking from her lips back up to her bright green eyes.

She cottoned on immediately, finishing the dessert in under thirty seconds and getting up to follow him to the front counter to pay. He smiled and nodded to the waitress who asked them if they enjoyed their meals, dropping a very generous tip, before grabbing Tessa’s hand and pulling her to his Acura, opening the door for her before getting into his side. He drove them back to Tessa’s building in record time, looking over at her once he cut the engine.

The atmosphere in the car was tense, and he could see Tessa nervously wringing her hands in her lap. Reaching over, he laid one hand over hers. “Tess, I can leave now,” he said lowly, squeezing her hands lightly. She shook her head.

“No fucking way, Scott Moir.”

She shot him a brilliant smile, and climbed out of the car and walked towards the front door, her eyes inviting him to follow. Shaking his head, he raced after her, grabbed her outstretched hand and followed her inside. 

* * *

He had her pressed against the back of the door to her apartment as soon as she had it shut. She gave back as good as it got, though, her lips moving against his urgently and relentlessly. He gripped her at her waist, lightly scrunching the navy fabric, pulling it from where it was tucked into her low-waisted pants. She yanked her head away from his, panting for breath, combing her fingers lightly through his too-long hair.

She breathlessly laughed, dropping her hands and seeking his. Linking their fingers, she pushed him lightly away from her, leading him towards her bedroom.

Sitting on the edge of her perfectly made bed, she looked up at him. Her cheeks were flushed a deep pink, her hair lightly tousled from where it had been pressed against the door, her eyes wide and bright, imploring him to make the next move. She looked… perfect. Absolutely perfect.

He walked towards her slowly, resting his hands on her shoulders. She tilted her head back to maintain eye contact. He gently pushed her backwards so she was lying on the bed, her legs dangling. Pressing a quick kiss to her cheek, he slowly unbuttoned her shirt, pushing it off her shoulders and pulling it out from where it was now pressed between her back and the bed.

She shivered against the cold air in the room, or maybe from something else, and goose-bumps trailed her arms as his fingertips trailed over her exposed upper body. She was wearing a simple pink lacy bralette that covered too much, for his liking, and he leant over her to trail his lips over the top seam of the lingerie.

Tessa huffed a heavy breath through her nose, and he felt her hands scrunch at his shirt, trying to pull it over his head. He pulled back, quickly pulling his shirt off and throwing it carelessly to the side, before leaning back over her to press his lips firmly to hers again. Her hands cupped his cheeks, dragging down his neck and over his shoulders squeezing lightly as they continued their exploration down his arms. She pulled back to watch what she was doing, and Scott placed his hands either side of her to hold himself over her as her cold hands trailed over his chest and stomach.

Moments passed before the delicacy wore thin, and the urgency from earlier returned. Standing up, Scott placed his hands under Tessa’s underarms and hauled her to the top of the bed. She giggled as her head hit the pillows, and she desperately threw decorative cushions off the top of the bed onto the floor to make room.

Scott climbed up to her, pressing his lips firmly to hers again, and she let out a happy sigh to have their lips reconnected. He felt her nimble fingers trail a line above his belt, shivering against her icy hand. She gripped his belt, trying to tug it off whilst maintaining their intense kiss. This proved difficult however, and she reluctantly pulled away to watch what she was doing as she tugged his belt off, and unzipped his black jeans. She pulled them down frantically, signalling for Scott to get up and finish undressing himself. He did, and returned the favour to her, pulling off her boots before working at her trousers.

Once he had finished undressing her, leaving her in her matching pink underwear, he left a trail of butterfly kissed up her legs. She squirmed, trying to pull him back up to her mouth, but he stood firm. Once he’d finished with one leg, he moved over to her other leg, repeating the process until she was breathing heavily. A small cry left her lips when he kissed the base of her foot. She was looking down at him, watching carefully, resting on her elbows. He smirked, looking up at her, then kissed her other foot, lightly biting the side of her foot.

She sighed, and hooked her foot around his neck, jerking him back up towards her. He climbed back towards her lips and trailed light kisses over her stomach and chest before lightly pecking her lips again.

“Beautiful, Tessa,” he murmured against her lips. She looked at him through hooded eyes, a small smile playing at her lips.

“Are you gonna fuck me soon, or what?” she whispered to him. And _fuck_. A jolt went through his entire body.

Pressing his lips firmly to hers again, he nodded. “Yes.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IT'S HERE!!!! Oh my God, I am sorry. I am very sorry. But I don't get paid to write chapters, unfortunately, and I am so rarely motivated by things that won't earn me money. Here we are, though. It's kind of cut off at the best bit, so sorry about that too, but hopefully next chapter will...make up for that....
> 
> I can feel everyone’s interest in this story waning, so I have tentatively changed the chapter count to twelve... I haven't got a definitive plan but I don't want it to drag on too long unnecessarily so.
> 
> Anyway, here we are.
> 
> PS; it, like everything I have ever written, has not been proofread so lol pls let me know any errors in the comments and I'll try to get around to fixing them


	11. chapter ten

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi thereeeee  
> So this is a pretty dialogue-heavy chapter. Somewhat necessary, I thought, to get that plot rolling a little bit. Probably not my favourite chapter but anyway...
> 
> Without further ado

Tessa woke up slowly, letting the early morning wash over her carefully. She felt warm, comfortable. She gradually became aware of the warm heaviness settled around her ribs; Scott’s arm keeping her tucked firmly in the curve of his body.

Inhaling heavily, she turned her head to find him looking down at her, his head elevated by the arm dug into the pillow beside her at the elbow. Despite the darkness in her room, she sought his eyes out and felt the corners of her lips curve up at him. He was looking at her so intensely that she thought she could melt. Memories of the night before washed over her and she was sure her cheeks were flushed pink.

“Good morning,” he whispered to her. His arm hadn’t loosened around her since she woke up. “Hi,” she whispered back, eyes roaming his face, taking in every careful detail and feature that she’d explored with her lips three times over last night.

“What time is it?”

“Too fucking early.”

Reaching up to lightly squeeze his hand, she pulled away from him briefly to turn in his arms, and he lay back down so they could look at each other nose-to-nose. His eyes flittered over her, seemed to be cataloguing every freckle that stood out against her pale face. His lips were millimetres from hers, all it would take to kiss him would be a slight tilt of the head. But Tessa stayed where she was, letting their eyes roam over each others’ face.

It could have been a moment, a minute, or five hours, but eventually Tessa snaked a hand out from under the covers they had pulled tightly to their shoulders to run the backs of her fingers over Scott’s slightly scruffy cheek. He closed his eyes as her fingertips continued to map over his face, and she squeezed her hand between his cheek and the pillow underneath it to pull his face towards her.

Tessa pressed a sweet kiss to the tip of his nose before rolling to lie on her back, wrapping her arm around his head and pulling it to her shoulder. His arm curled around her in response as he cradled her to him, using her collarbone as a pillow.

“Are we gonna talk about it?” Scott breathed into her skin. She tensed momentarily, only relaxing when Scott’s lips puckered to press a kiss against her shoulder.

She thought he wouldn’t bring it up.

She thought wrong. 

See, last night, Tessa and Scott did not get to _fuck_ , as Tessa so eloquently wanted. No, no. Instead, poor Scott had to be rebuffed when a particularly strong jolt of desire coursed through Tessa, causing her to twist her leg at an angle that her leg should not have twisted.

 

_“Fuck!” Tessa whispered harshly, jolting forward in a response to the pain. “Good, baby?” Scott murmured, his fingers deftly doodling circles around her clit. She grabbed his wrist, pulling her knee up to use it to push him out of the way from where he lay half on top of her._

_Effectively ruining the moment._

_“Tessa?” he asked, instantly pulling his hand away from her and shuffling backwards towards the other side of the bed._

_“It’s…my leg. Jesus, Scott, sorry,” Tessa said quietly, her hands frantically rubbing up and down her calf to relieve the cramping that had just taken residence. He blinked at her from where he now lay on the bed, eyes flicking from her hands to her face. She could’ve laughed at the disbelief etched over his face, if she weren’t so **pissed off** about her body failing her when she needed it most._

_“Can I do anything?” he asked, his hands levitating near her leg but not daring to go any closer._

_“Just… don’t leave okay?” Tessa responded, her hands pausing to look at him intently. “Please?”_

_He smiled at her gently, nodding. “Of course, Tess. Not going anywhere._

And after Tessa had managed to relieve the worst of the pain in her leg, they had proceeded to spend the night talking, making out like teenagers, and not fucking.

This morning, however, her legs felt fine. Scott smirked up at her as she swung a leg over him, effectively straddling him.

“No need, Scott.”

She could feel his morning half-mast press against the inside of her thigh and she smiled down at him, her chestnut hair, a mess from being pressed against a pillow, tumbling over her shoulders.

“Feeling better today, are we, T?” Scott asked, his hands skimming up the sides of her thighs and settling lightly on her hips.

Neither had bothered getting redressed after last night’s fiasco.

How convenient.

* * *

“I could stay like this all day,” Tessa murmured against his temple.

After two _very_ satisfactory rounds, they had curled back up together under the covers. Tessa had one arm and one leg slung over him, her nose pressed into his hair. She’s be surprised if she could move at all today. Four morning orgasms was not something her body was really accustomed to.

Scott Moir was an _amazing_ lay.

“And while I’d love to, I already skipped work this morning and my mother would kill me if I wasn’t there to take my 2pm tykes,” Scott replied, sighing heavily.

Tessa groaned, lifting her head to look at the clock beside her bed. It glared an angry, red 11:43 at her.

“But first,” Scott whispered, sliding a hand across her stomach and pulling gently at her naval piercing, “we have to feed you, Virtch.”

Biting her lip to distract herself from the warmth in her belly that flooded as soon as Scott touched her piecing, she nodded and exhaled heavily. “ _Please_.”

He grinned and kissed her gently on her forehead. “Hop in the shower and I’ll start making something. Eggs sound okay?”

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, a freshly showered Tessa slid into the kitchen wearing only an oversized college hoodie that she usually slept in. He looked up at her from the stovetop, wearing navy boxers and a white T-shirt he must have brought with him, and jerked his head towards the breakfast bar, where a mug of black coffee was waiting for her.

“Oh you _are_ amazing,” she sighed, slipping her hands around the mug and bringing it to her lips.

Scott slid a plate of food in front of her, then leant against the countertop opposite her to eat his own food. They ate wordlessly, periodically making eye contact over the top of their coffee mugs in between mouthfuls.

“What time do you need to leave?” Tessa asked once they had finished eating.

“Hmm… probably soon. I gotta get changed, and I’m not kidding when I say Alma will kill me if I’m late.”

“Does she know you’re in London?”

Scott hesitated for a moment before replying. “She does.”

Tessa tried to contain the smile that broke over her face - _he told his Mom about me!_ – but failed spectacularly.

“Tess?” he asked, watching her with bemusement.

“Oh no, I’m just…really glad you told _someone_ about me. Like I’m not just some dirty secret. It really makes me…” she trailed off at the look on his face. “Scott?”

“I… may have told her I was staying with Danny tonight.”

He watched her face fall and her eyes drop from his to look at her lap. Quickly stepping around the counter to stand in front of her, he pressed his palm to her cheek, gently pulling her face back up to his.

“Don’t Scott, it’s fine. It’s…whatever. No big deal.”

“Tessa, I –“

“Nope. It’s fine. I’ll umm…call you I guess? Have a good class and - ”

He pressed his lips to hers firmly. Pulling back, her eyelids fluttered as her eyes flicked back up to meet his.

“This has nothing to do with you Tessa. _Nothing_. This, us, it's me. I’m just –“

She pulled back from him, hopping to her feet. Scott watched her pace frustratingly in front of him. It occurred to him that he kind of loved how she could go from adorable to terrifying in under three seconds.

“Just _what_ Scott. Honestly, what. You close yourself off when I think we’re moving forward. I’m a secret to, what, _all_ of your family? Are we even anything here, Scott? Was I just quick fuck, or was –“

“ _Jesus_ , Tessa,” he cried, his hands clenched into tight fists. He took the two steps to meet her face to face, recoiling when he went to reach for her hand and she jerked away. “Of _course_ you’re not.”

She clenched her eyes shut and pressed her fingertips into the corner of them. “Then _what?_ ”

“Oh, Tessa,” he sighed. The tender defeat in his tone made her look at him curiously. Scott made his way over the couch, flopping onto it and dropping his head into his hands. She cautiously followed him and sat beside him, far enough away that they weren’t touching, but close enough that it wouldn’t take much to lean forward and pull those hands away from his face.

“I just…oh I don’t know how to say this,” Scott began, his voice muffled by his hands. She gently touched two fingers to his wrist, pulling lightly to bring them away from his face. She hummed, signalling for him to continue.

“I don’t really have a great view of myself, Tess. Like, I’m basically the poster-child for failure,” he scoffed. She opened her mouth to refute, but he steamrolled on.

“I quit hockey ‘cause I wasn’t good enough, and quit the only other thing I ever really cared about anyway – skating – because I was feeling stuck there too. I mean, fuck… I live with my _parents_. I don’t have anything more significant than a High School diploma, which I only really got ‘cause Charlie threatened to beat me up if I stopped going to school anyway and I just…”

He trailed off, huffing slightly. Tessa watched as his jaw clenched, wanting to speak but waiting for him to finish. Scott, however, completely changed the track of his diatribe.

“My Mom gets a bit…obsessive. Or protective. But basically, if I told her about you, she’d be planning the wedding already. And she’ll be so disappointed when we don’t make it to the altar, Tess. I mean, she’ll be _devastated_ if she got attached to you – and look at you, she will – only to have to pick me up again when I’m single and stupid and drunk and –“

“Scott, stop,” Tessa said. Her voice was hoarse and quiet, but sure. She was glaring into the side of his face, waiting for him to look at her. Tessa very rarely lost a staring contest.

Helplessly, Scott’s face turned to hers, and she was surprised to see two uneven streaks down the middle of his cheek, indicating he had been crying as he spoke.

“Scott,” she said again, laying her hand over his. “Take a step back here. Who gives a shit, who gives a _fuck_? You are such a good coach, you love it, and those kids love you. So you took a couple of false starts, you’ve landed on your feet and, Scott, that’s something I’ve _never_ been able to do. You are so….” she paused, her eyes narrowing as she searched for the right word, “clever. Passionate. Brave.”

He gave her a disbelieving smile, and nervously broke her eye contact again. He looked almost embarrassed. Or… sheepish?

“Why are you so certain we’ll crash and burn?” she asked, pulling herself closer to him on the couch.

He reeled back in surprise. He looked almost angry.

“Really, Tess? Are you serious? Look at you, you’re just… everything. So smart, so _beautiful_. You have everything together. You’re not gonna want to stick around babysitting me for much longer. You’ve got… a whole life, everything to look forward to, and I’m just bumming around in little Ilderton and –“

“Scott, no. I’m actually –“

“Tessa, stop. End of the day, you’re a girl I met online. No strings attached, right? That’s the go? And I mean I’m having a really great time and –“

She reached out and slapped him. Hard. Over the cheek.

“Alright then, Scott. No strings. You better get going, you have class in an hour.”

Her voice was cold, detached. Her green eyes were a sharp shade of emerald. He opened his mouth to apologise, but found he couldn’t speak. He pressed his hand to his reddening cheek, looking at her helplessly.

She looked purposefully at the door before looking back at him. The message was clear: leave. Now. So he did, shuffling into her bedroom to retrieve his clothes and gather his things.

When he came back out he saw her sitting on the couch, hands covering her face and shoulders shaking. He moved forward to comfort her, but she looked up abruptly. There were no tears in her beautiful green eyes. No, they were sharp and observant, cutting through him as he miserably made his way towards the door.

“Thanks for breakfast,” she said suddenly, her voice back to the hoarse quiet that it had been before. “You’re welcome,” he replied, surprised.

He paused at the door.

“I’ll call you, I’ll –“

“Yep, fine. Whatever, Scott.”

As he left, it occurred to Scott that the anger had left her voice. She just sounded sad.

He’d done that, he realised. He made her sad. He didn’t even notice how things had escalated, how his relationship with Tessa had gotten so intense that a fight could feet so devastating.

He was struck with a desire to fix it, to go back and grovel.

But, of course, he couldn’t do that. He had class in an hour.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there we have it.
> 
> I've bumped up the chapter count by a couple just to adjust to how I've drafted the ending, but by no means is it definite. 
> 
> Not sure when the next chapter will be, either, but uni goes back in a week so I'll try and pump another one before then!

**Author's Note:**

> please comment/review! xx


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